J REFERENCE
57^ Fo(K/oV* o^ixd If^ev^d^ J'J^?¥6^HC-r
PUBLIC VSfmm'i
THE BRANCH VBR';-f''f
3 3333 01 196 2517
5L
FOLK-LORE
HI
AND
LEGENDS
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND
r}9
GIBBINGS AND COMPANY, LIMITED
i8 BURY ST„ LONDON, W.C.
1894
^ -^ \C \ QTY OF NEW YORf ^ tf
J929464
INTKODUCTORY NOTE.
The old English Folklore Tales are fast dying out.
The simplicity of character necessary for the re-
taining of old memories and beliefs is being lost,
more rapidly in England, perhaps, than in any other
part of the world. Our folk are giving up the old
myths for new ones. Before remorseless " progress,"
and the struggle for existence, the poetry of life is
being quickly blotted out. In editing this volume
I have endeavoured to select some of the best speci-
mens of our Folklore. With regard to the nursery
tales, I have taken pains to give them as they are
in the earliest editions I could find. I must say,
however, that, while I have taken every care to
alter only as much as was absolutely necessary in
these tales, some excision and slight alteration has
at times been required.
C. J. T.
c.
CONTENTS.
A Dissertation on Fairies,
Nelly the Knocker, . . .' , , .
The Three Fools, lU*TUf-^ ^> >il^^^
Some Merry Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham,
The Tulip Fairies, .
The History of Jack and the Giants,
The Fairies' Cup, ....
The White Lady, ....
A Pleasant and Delightful History of Thomas
Hickathrift, . . ■ .
The Spectre Coach, ....
The Baker's Daughter,
The Fairy Children, ....
The History of Jack and the Beanstalk, . ,
Johnny Reed's Cat, .^"Lvt.^ 0 ' jti ^ OcjI©
Lame Molly, .....
The Brown man of the Moors,
1
39
42
46
54
57
84
86
89
117
123
126
129
150
156
159
Vlll
CONTENTS.
PACE
How the Cobbler cheated the Devil, . . . 161
The Tavistock Witch, . . . .165
Tlie Worm of Lambton, . . . .168
The Old Woman and the Crooked Sixpence, . 174
The Yorkshire Boggart, . . . ,177
The Duergar, ..... 181
The Barn Elves, ..... 185
Legends of King Arthur, CVv VVu*^ \in'^)t' Y^^^
Silky, 192
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES.
BY JOSEPH RITSON, ESQ.
The earliest mention of Fairies is made by Homer,
if, that is, his English translator has, in this instance,
done him justice : —
" Where round the bed, whence Achelous springs,
The wat'ry Fairies dance in mazy rings."
{Iliad, B. xxiv. 617.)
These Nymphs he supposes to frequent or reside
in woods, hills, the sea, fountains, grottoSi etc.,
whence they are peculiarly called Naiads, Dryads
and Nereids :
" What sounds are those that gather from the shores,
The voice of nymphs that haunt the sylvan bowers,
The fair-hair'd drj^ads of the shady wood.
Or azure daughters of the silver flood ?"
(Odyss. B. vi. 122.)
The original word, indeed, is nymphs, which, it
must be confessed, furnishes an accurate idea of the
fays (f^es or fates) of the ancient French and Italian
romances ; wherein they are represented as females
of inexpressible beauty, elegance, and every kind of
English. A
2 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
personal accomplishment, united with magic or
supernatural power; such, for instance, as the
Calypso of Homer, or the Alcina of Ariosto. Agree-
ably to this idea it is that Shakespeare makes
Antony say in allusion to Cleopatra —
" To this great fairy I 'U commend thy acts,"
meaning this grand assemblage of power and beauty.
Such, also, is' the character of the ancient nymphs,
spoken of by the Eoman poets, as Virgil, for instance :
" Fortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestes,
Panaque, Sylvamimque senem, Nymphasque sorores."
(Geor. ii. 493.)
They, likewise, occur in other passages as well as
in Horace —
" gelidum nemus
Nympharumque leves cum Satyris chori."
{Carmina, I., 0. 1, v. 30.)
and, still more frequently, in Ovid.
Not far from Eome, as we are told by Chorier,
was a place formerly called " Ad Nymphas," and, at
this day, " Santa Ninfa," which without doubt, he
adds, in the language of our anccstoi'S, would have
been called " The Place of Fays " (Becherches des Anti-
quitez, de Vienne, Lyon, 1659).
The word fa4e, or fie, among the French, is
derived, according to Du Cange, from the barbarous
Latin fadus or fada, in Italian fata. Gervase of
Tilbury, in his Otia Imxurialia (D. 3, c. 88), speaks
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 3
of " some of this kind of larvce, which they named
fadce, we have heard to be lovers," and in his
relation of a nocturnal contest between two knights
(c. 94) he exclaims, "What shall I say? I know
not if it were a true hoi'se, or if it were a fairy
(fadus), as men assert." From the Roman de Far-
tenmj, or de Lesignan, MS. Du Cange cites —
" Le chasteau fuffait cl'une fee
Si comme il est partout retrait."
Hence, he says, faerie for spectres :
" Plusieiirs parlant de Guenart,
Du Lou, de I'Asne, et de Eenart,
De faeries, et de songes,
De fantosmes, et de mensonges."
The same Gervase explains the Latin fata {f6e,
French) a divining woman, an enchantress, or a
witch (D. 3, c. 88).
Master Wace, in his Histoire des Dues de Normendie
(confounded by many with the Roman de Rou),
describing the fountain of Berenton, in Bretagne,
says —
"En la forest et environ,
Mais jo ne sais par quel raison
La scut I'en les fees veeir,
Se li Breton nos dient veir, etc."
(In the forest and around,
I wot not by what reason found,
There may a man the fairies spy,
If Britons do not tell a lie.)
4 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
but it may be difficult to conceive an accurate idea,
from the mere name, of the popular French fays or
fairies of the twelfth century.
In Vienne, in Dauphiny, is Le piiit des fies, or
Fairy-Avell. These faijs, it must be confessed, have
a strong resemblance to the nymphs of the ancients,
who inhabited caves and fountains. Upon a
little rock which overlooks the Ehone are three
round holes which nature alone has formed, al-
though it seem, at first sight, that art has laboured
after her. They say that they were formerly
frequented by Fays ; that they were full of water
when it rained- and that they there frequently
took the pleasure of the bath; than which they
had not one more charming (Chorier, Recherches,
etc.).
Pomponius Mela, an eminent geographer, and, in
point of time, far anterior to Pliny, relates, that
beyond a mountain in Ethiopia, called by the
Greeks the " High Mountain," burning, he says, with
perpetual fire, is a hill spread over a long tract by
extended shores, whence they rather go to see wide
jjlains than to behold [the habitations] of Pans and
Satyrs. Hence, he adds, this opinion received faith,
that, whereas, in these parts is nothing of culture,
no seats of inhabitants, no footsteps — a waste soli-
tude in the day, and a mere waste silence — frequent
fires shine by night; and camps, as it were, are
seen widely spread ; cymbals and tympans sound ;
and sounding pipes are heard more than human
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 5
(B. 3, c. 9). These invisible essences, however, are
both anonymous and nondescript.
The penates of the Eomans, according to honest
Eeginald Scot, were "the domestical! gods, or
rather divels, that were said to make men live
quietlie within doores. But some think that Lares
are such as trouble private houses. Larvce are said
to be spirits that walk onelie by night. Vinculi
teirei are such as was Eobin Good-fellowe, that
would supplie the office of servants, speciallie of
maides, as to make a fier in the morning, sweepe
the house, grind mustard and malt, drawe water, etc.
These also rumble in houses, drawe latchss, go up
and down staiers," etc. {Discoverie of Witchcraft,
London, 1584, p. 521). A more modern writer says
" The Latins have called the fairies lares and larvce,
frequenting, as they say, houses, delighting in neatness,
pinching the slut, and rewarding the good housewife
with money in her shoe" (Pleasaurd Treatise of JFitches,
1673, p. 53). This, however, is nothing but the
character of an English fairy applied to the name of
a Eoman lar or larva. It might have been wished,
too, that Scot, a man unquestionably of great learn-
ing, had referred, by name and work and book and
chapter, to those ancient authors from whom he de-
rived his information upon the Eoman penates, etc.
What idea our Saxon ancestors had of the fairy
which they called celf, a word explained by Lye as
equivalent to lamia, larva, incubus, ephialtes, we are
utterly at a loss to conceive.
6 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
The nymphs, the satyrs, and the fauns, are
frequently noticed by the old traditional historians
of the north ; particularly Saxo-grammaficus, who has
a curious story of three nymphs of the forest, and
Mother, King of Sweden and Denmark, being
apparently the originals of the weird, or wizard,
sisters of Macbeth (B. 3, p. 39). Others are pre-
served by Olaus Magnus, who says they had so
deeply impressed into the earth, that the place they
have been used to, having been (apparently) eaten up
in a circular form with flagrant heat, never brings
forth fresh grass from the dry turf. This nocturnal
sport of monsters, he adds, the natives call The
Dance of the Elves (B. 3, c. 10).
" In John Milesius any man may reade
Of divels in Sarmatia honored,
Call'd Kottri, or Kihaldi ; such as wee
Pugs and Hob-goblins call. Their dwellings bee
In corners of old houses least frequented,
Or beneath stacks of wood : and these convented,
Make fearfull noise in buttries and in dairies ;
Robin Goodfellowes some, some call them fairies.
In solitarie roomes these uprores keepe,
And beat at dores to wake men from their sleepe ;
Seeming to force locks, be they ne're so strong,
And keeping Christmasse gambols all night long.
Pots, glasses, trenchers, dishes, pannes, and kettles,
They will make dance about the shelves and settles,
As if about the kitchen tost and cast.
Yet in the morning nothing found misplac't."
{Heywood's Hierarchie of Angells, 1635, fo. p. 574.)
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 7
Milton, a prodigious reader of romance, has, like-
wise, given an apt idea of the ancient fays —
" Fairer than famed of old, or fabled since
Of fairy damsels met in forest wide,
By knights of Logres, and of Liones,
Lancelot or Pelleas, or Pellenore."
These ladies, in fact, are by no means unfrequent
in those fabulous, it must be confessed, but, at the
same time, ingenious and entertaining histories ; as,
for instance, Melusine, or Merlusine, the heroine of a
very ancient romance in French verse, and who was
occasionally turned into a serpent ; Morgan-la-fa4e,
the reputed half-sister of King Arthur; and the
Lady of the Lake, so frequently noticed in Sir Thomas
Malory's old history of that monarch,
Le Grand is of opinion that what is called Fairy
comes to us from the Orientals, and that it is their
gSnies which have produced our fairies; a species of
nymphs, of an order superior to those women magi-
cians, to whom they nevertheless gave the same name.
In Asia, he says, where the women imprisoned in the
harems, prove still, beyond the general servitude,
a particular slavery, the romancers have imagined
the Peris, who, flying in the air, come to soften their
captivity, and render them happy (Fabliaux, 12mo.
i. 112). Whether this be so or not, it is certain
that we call the aurorce horeales, or active clouds, in
the night, ijerry-dancers.
After all, Sir William Ouseley finds it impossible
8 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
to give an accurate idea of what the Persian poets
designed by a Perie, this aerial being not resembling
our fairies. The strongest resemblance he can find
is in the description of Milton in Comus. The sub-
lime idea which Milton entertained of a fairy vision
corresponds rather with that which the Persian
poets have conceived of the Peries.
" Tlieir port was more tlian human as they stood ;
I took it for a faery vision
Of some gay creatures of the element,
That in the colours of the rainbow live
And play i' th' plighted clouds."
(D'Israeli's Romances, p. 1 3. )
It is by no means credible, however, that Milton
had any knowledge of the Oriental Peries, though
his enthusiastic or poetical imagination might have
easily peopled the air with spirits.
There are two sorts of fays, according to M. Le
Grand. The one a species of nymphs or divinities ;
the other more properly called sorceresses, or women
instructed in magic. From time immemorial, in the
abbey of Poissy, founded by St. Lewis, they said
every year a mass to preserve the nuns from the
power of the fays. When the process of the Damsel
of Orleans was made, the doctors demanded, for the
first question, " If she had any knowledge of those
who went to the Sabbath with the fays 1 or if she
had not assisted at the assemblies held at the
fountain of the fays, near Dompreiu, around which
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 9
dance malignant spirits 1 " The Journal of Paris,
under Charles VI. and Charles vii. pretends that she
confessed that, at the age of twenty-seven years, she
frequently went, in spite of her father and mother,
to a fair fountain in the county of Lorraine, which
she named the "Good Fountain to the Fays Our
Lord " {lb. p. 75).
Gervase of Tilbury, in his chapter " of Fauns and
Satyrs," says, — "there are likewise others, whom
the vulgar call FoIIets, Avho inhabit the houses of the
simple rustics, and can be driven away neither by
holy water, nor exorcisms; and because they are
not seen, they afflict those, who are entering, with
stones, billets, and domestic furniture, whose words
for certain are heard in the human manner, and
their forms do not appear " (Oiia imperialia, D. i. c.
18). He is speaking of England.
This Follet seems to resemble Puck, or Eobin Good-
fellow,whose pranks were recorded in an old song and
who was sometimes useful, and sometimes mischievous.
Whether or not he was the fairy-spirit of whom Milton
" Tells how the drudging goblin swet,
To ern his cream-bowle duly set,
When, in one night, ere glimpse of morn,
His shadowy flail hath thresh'd the corn,
That ten day-labourers could not end,
Then lies him down, the lubbar fend ;
And stretch'd out all the chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength ;
And crop-full out of dores he flings,
Ere the first cock his matin rings." {V Allegro).
10 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
is a matter of some difficulty. Perhaps the giant
son of the witch, that liad the devil's mark about
her (of whom " there is a pretty tale "), that was
called Loh-lye-hy-the-fire, Avas a very different per-
sonage from Robin Good-fellow, whom, however, he
in some respects appears to resemble. A near
female relation of the compiler, who was born and
brought up in a small village in the bishopric of
Durham, related to him many years ago, several
circumstnr.ces which confirmed the exactitude of
Milton's description; she particularly told of his
threshing the corn, churning the butter, drinking
the milk, etc., and, when all was done, " lying before
the fire like a great rough hurgin bear."
In another chapter Gervase says — " As among
men, nature produces certain wonderful things, so
spirits, in airy bodies, who assume by divine per-
mission the mocks they make. For, behold! England
has certain daemons (daemons, I call them, though
I know not, but I should say secret forms of unknown
generation), whom the French call Neptunes, the
English Fortunes. With these it is natural that they
take advantage of the simplicity of fortunate peasants;
and when, by reason of their domestic labours, they
perform their nocturnal vigils, of a sudden, the doors
being shut, they warm themselves at the fire, and
eat little frogs, cast out of their bosoms and put
upon the burning coals ; with an antiquated coun-
tenance; a wrinkled face; diminutive in stature,
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 1 1
not Laving [in length] half a thumb. They are
clothed with rags patched together ; and if anything
should be to be carried on in the house, or any kind
of laborious ^york to be done, they join themselves
to the work, and expedite it with more than human
facility. It is natural to these, that they may be
obsequious, and may not be hurtful. But one little
mode, as it were, they have of hurting. For when,
among the ambiguous shades of night, the English
occasionally ride alone, the Fortune, sometimes, un-
seen, couples himself to the rider; and, when he
has accompanied him, going on, a very long time, at
length, the bridle being seized, he leads him up to
the hand in the mud, in which while, infixed, he
wallows, the Fortune, departing, sets up a laugh ;
and so, in this kind of way, derides human sim-
plicity" (Otia imperialia, D. 3, c. 61).
This spirit seems to have some resemblance to
the Ficktree-brag, a mischievous barguest that used
to haunt that part of the country, in the shape of
different animals, particularly of a little galloway;
in which shape a farmer, still or lately living there-
about, reported that it had come to him one night
as he was going home ; that he got upon it, and rode
very quietly till it came to a great pond, to which it
ran and threw him in, and went laughing away.
He further says there is, in England, a certain
species of demons, which in their language they call
Grant, like a one-year old foal, with straight legs,
12 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
and sparkling eyes. This kind of demon very
often appears in the streets, in the very heat of the
day, or about sunset ; and as often as it makes its
appearance, portends that there is about to be a fire
in that city or town. When, therefore, in the
following day or night the danger is urgent, in the
streets, running to and fro, it provokes the dogs to
bark, and, while it pretends flight invites them,
following, to pursue, in the vain hope of overtaking
it. This kind of illusion provokes caution to the
watchmen who have the custody of fire, and so the
officious race of demons, while they terrify the be-
holders, are wont to secure the ignorant by their
arrival (Gervase, D. 3, c. 62).
Gower, in his tale of Narcissus, professedly from
Ovid, says —
" As he cast liis loke
Into the well,
He sawe the like of his visage,
And wende there were an ymage
Of such a nymphe, as tho was faye."
[Confessio amantis, fo. 20, b.)
In his Legend of Consteince is this passage : — -
*' Thy wife which is of fairie
Of suche a childe delivered is,
fro kinde, whiche stante all amis."
{.Ibid. fo. 32, b.)
In another part of his book is a story " Howe
A DISSERTATION ONFAIPJES. 13
the Kynge of Armenis daughter mette on a tyme a
companie of the fairy." These " ladies," ride aside
"on fayre [white] ambulende horses," clad, very
magnificently, but all alike, in white and blue, and
wore " coroAvnes on their heades ; " but they are not
called fays in the poem, nor does the word fay or
fairie once occur therein.
The fairies or elves of the British isles are peculiar
to this part of the world, and are not, so far as
literary information or oral ti'adition enables us to
judge, to be found in any other country. For this
fact the authority of father Chaucer will be decisive,
till we acquire evidence of equal antiquity in favour
of other nations : —
"In olde dayes of the Kiug Artour,
Of which the Bretons speken gret honour,
All was this lond fulfilled of faerie ;
The elf-quene, with hire joly compagDie,
Danced ful oft in many a grene mede.
This was the old opinion as I rede ;
I speke of many hvxndred yeres ago ;
But now can no man see non elves mo,
For now the grate charitee and prayers
Of limitoures and other holy freres,
That serchen every land, and every streme,
As thickke as motes in the sunnebeme,
Blissing halles, chambres, kichenes, and boures,
Citces and burghes, castles highe and toures,
Thropes and bernes, shepenes and dairies,
This maketh that ther ben no faeries."
{Wif of Bathes Tale.)
14 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
The fairy may be defined as a species of being
partly material, partly spiritual, with a power to
change its appearance, and be, to mankind, visible
or invisible, according to its pleasure. In the old
song, printed by Peck, Eobin Good-fellow, a well-
known fairy, professes that he had played his pranks
from the time of ]\lerlin, Avho Avas the contemporary
of Arthur.
Chaucer uses the word faeHe as well for the
indmclual as for the country or system, or what we
should now call fairy-land, or faryisin. He knew
nothing, it would seem, of Oheron, Titania, or Mab,
but speaks of —
"Pluto, that is the King of Faerie,
And many a ladie in his compagnie,
Folwing his wif, the queue Proserpina, etc."
{The Marchantes Tale, i. 10101.)
From this passage of Chaucer Mr. Tyrwhitt
" cannot help thinking that his Pluto and Proserpina
were the true progenitors of Oheron and Titania!'
In the progress of The JFif of Bathes Tale, it
happed the knight,
" in his way to ride
In all his care, under a forest side.
Whereas he saw upon a dance go
Of ladies foure-and-twenty, and yet mo.
Toward this ilke dance, he drow ful yerue,
In hope that he sora wisdom shidde lerne,
But, certainly, er he came fully there,
Yvanished was this dance, he wiste not wher."
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 15
These ladies appear to have been fairies, though
nothing is insinuated of their size. Milton seems
to have been upon the prowl here for his "forest-
side."
In A MicUummer-NigM s Dream, a fairy addresses
Bottom the weaver —
" Hail, mortal, hail ! "
which sufficiently shows she was not so herself
Puck, or Eobin Good-fellow, in the same play,
calls Oberon,
" King of shadows,"
and in the old song just mentioned,
"The King of ghosts and shadoiv.o,"
and this mighty monarch asserts of himself, and his
subjects,
" But we are spirits of another sort."
The fairies, as we already see, were male and female.
Their government was monarchical, and Oberon,
the King of Fairyland, must have been a sovereign
of very extensive territory. The name of his queen
was Titania. Both are mentioned by Shakespeare,
being personages of no little importance in the
above play, where they, in an ill-humour, thus
encounter :
Obe. Ill met by moon-light, proud Titania.
Tita. What, jealous Oberon? Fairy, skip hence ;
I have forsworn his bed and company."
16 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
That the name [Oberon] was not the invention of
our great dramatist is sufficiently proved. The
allegorical Spenser gives it to King Henry the
Eighth. Eobert Greene was the author of a play
entitled " The Scottishe history of Jaines the Four the
.... intermixed with a pleasant comedie presented
by Oberon, king of the fairies." He is, likewise, a
character in the old French romances of Huon de
Bourdeaux, and Qgier le Danois; and there even
seems to be one upon his own exploits, Roman
d' Aiiberon. What authority, however, Shakespeare
had for the name Titania, it does not appear, nor is
she so called by any other writer. He himself, at
the same time, as well as many others, gives to the
queen of fairies the name of Mab, though no one,
except Drayton, mentions her as the wife of Oberon :
" 0 then, I see, queen Mab Lath been with you,
She is the fairy's midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep ;
Her waggou-spokes made of long spinner's legs ;
The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers ;
The traces, of the smallest spider's web ;
The collars, of the moonshine's wat'ry beams :
Her whip, of cricket's bone ; the lash, of film :
Her waggoner, a small grey-coated gnat.
Not half so big as a round little worm
Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid :
Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut,
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 17
Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub,
Time out of mind the fairies' coachmakers.
And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love !
. . , This is that very Mab,
That plats the manes of horses in the night ;-
And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs,
Which, once untangled, much misfortune bodes."
[Romeo and Juliet.)
Ben Jonson, in his " Entertainment of the Queen
and Prince at Althrope," in 1603, describes to come
" tripping up the lawn a bevy of fairies attending
on Mab their queen, who, falling into an artificial
ring that was there cut in the path, began to dance
around."— (^Forfe, v. 201.)
In the same masque the queen is thus characterised
by a satyr : —
" This is Mab, the mistress fairy,
That doth nightly rob the dairy,
And can hurt or help the churning,
(As she please) without discerning.
She that pinches country-wenches
If they rub not clean their benches,
And with sharper nails remembers
When they rake not up their embers ;
But, if so they chance to feast her, .
In a shoe she drops a tester.
This is she that empties cradles.
Takes out children, puts in ladles ;
Trains forth midwives in their slumber,
With a sieve the holes to number ;
English. B
18 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
And thus leads them from her boroughs,
Home tliroiigh ponds and water-furrows.
She can start our franklin's daughters,
In their sleep, with shrieks and laughters,
And on sweet St. Agues' night
Feed them with a promised sight,
Some of husbands, some of lovers,
Which an empty dream discovers."
Fairies, they tell you, have frequently been heard
and seen — nay, that there are some living who were
stolen away by them, and confined seven years.
According to the description they give who pretend
to have seen them, they are in the shape of men,
exceeding little. They are always clad in green, and
frequent the woods and fields ; when they make
cakes (which is a work they have been often heard
at) they are very noisy ; and when they have done,
they are full of mirth and pastime. But generally
they dance in moonlight when mortals are asleep
and not capable of seeing them, as may be observed on
the following morn — their dancing-places being very
distinguishable. For as they dance hand in hand,
and so make a circle in their dance, so next day there
will be seen rings and circles on the grass. — (Bourne's
Antiquifatcs T'ulgarcs, Newcastle, 1725, 8vo, p. 82.)
These circles are thus described by Browne, the
author of Britannia's Pastorals : —
"... A pleasant meade,
^Yhere fairies often did their measures treade,
Which in the meadow made such circles greene,
As if with carlauds it had crowned beeue.
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 19
Withiu one of these rounds was to be scene
A hillock rise, where oft the fairie queene
At twy-light sate, and did command her elves
To pinch those maids that had not swept their shelves :
And further, if by maidens' over-sight
Within doores water were not brought at night,
Or if they spred no table, set no bread,
They should have nips from toe unto the head ;
And for the maid that had perform'd each thing,
She in the water-pail bad leave a ring."
The same poet, in his " Shepeards Pipe," having
inserted Hoccleve's tale of Jonathas, and conceivinfr
a strange unnatural affection for that stupid fellow,
describes him as a great favourite of the fairies,
alleging, that —
" Many times he hath been seene
With the fairies on the greene.
And to them his pipe did sound.
While they danced in a round,
Mickle solace would they make him.
And at midnight often wake him.
And convey him from his rooms
To a field of yellow broome ;
Or into the medowes, where
Mints perfume the gentle aire.
And where Flora spends her treasure.
There they would begin their measure.
If it chanc'd night's sable shrowds
Muffled Cynthia up in clowds,
Safely home they then would see him,
And from brakes and quagmires free him."
20 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
The fairies were exceedingly diminutive, but, it
must be confessed, we shall not readily find their
real dimensions. They were small enough, however,
if we may believe one of queen Titania's maids of
honour, to conceal themselves in acorn shells.
Speaking of a difference between the king and
queen, she says : —
" But they do square ; that all the elves for fear
Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there."
They uniformly and constantly wore green
vests, unless when they had some reason for chang-
ing their dress. Of this circumstance we meet
with many proofs. Thus in The Merry Wives of
Windsor —
" Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies green."
In fact we meet with them of all colours ; as in
the same play —
" Fairies black, grey, green, and white."
That white, on some occasions, was the dress of
a female, we learn from Reginald Scot. He gives
a charm " to go invisible by [means of J these three
sisters of fairies," Milia, Acliilia, Sibylla : " I charge
you that you doo appeare before me visible, in forme
and shape of faire women, in white vestures, and to
bring with you to me the ring of invisibilitie, by the
which I may go invisible at mine owne will and
I^leasure, and that in all hours and minutes."
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 21
It was fatal, if we may believe Shakespeare, to
speak to a fairy. Falstaff, in The Merry Wives of
JVindsw, is made to say, " They are fairies. He
that speaks to them shall die."
They were accustomed to enrich their favourites,
as we learn from the clown in A Winter's Tale —
" It was told me I should be rich by the fairies."
They delighted in neatness, could not endure sluts,
and even hated fibsters, tell-tales, and divulgers of
secrets, whom they would slily and severely bepinch
when they little expected it. They were as generous
and benevolent, on the contrary, to young women of
a different description, procuring them the sweetest
sleep, the pleasantest dreams, and, on their departure
in the morning, always slipping a tester in their
shoe.
They are supposed by some to have been
malignant, but this, it may be, was mere calumny,
as being utterly inconsistent Avith their general
character, which was singularly innocent and
amiable.
Imogen, in Shakespeare's Cymleline, prays, on
going to sleep —
" From fairies, and the tempters of the night.
Guard me, beseech you."
It must have been the Inaihus she was so afraid
of.
22 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
Hamlet, too, notices this imputed malignity of
the fairies : —
"... Then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch has power to charm."
Thus, also, in The Comedy of Enws : —
" A fiend, a fairy, pitiless and rough."
They were amazingly expeditious in their journeys.
Puck, or Eobin Good-fellow, answers Oberon, who
was about to send him on a secret expedition —
" I '11 put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes."
Again the same goblin addresses him thus : —
" Fairy king, attend and mark,
I do hear the morning lark.
Obe. Then, my queen, in sUence sad,
Trip we after the night's shade —
We the globe can compass soon.
Swifter than the wand'ring moon."
In another place Puck says —
" My fairy lord this must be done in haste ;
For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast.
And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger,
At whose approach ghosts, wandering here and there,
Troop home to churchyards," etc.
To which Oberon replies —
" But we are spirits of another sort :
I with the morning's love have oft made sport ;
And, like a forester, the groves may tread,
Even till the eastern gate, aU fiery-red,
OpeniDg on Neptune with fair blessed beams,
Turns into yellow gold his salt-green streams."
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 23
Compare, likewise, "what Eobin himself says on this
subject in the old song of his exploits.
They never ate —
" But that it eats our victuals, I should think,
Here were a fairy,"
says Belarius at the first sight of Imogen, as
Fidele.
They were humanely attentive to the youthful
dead. Thus Guiderius at the funeral of the above
lady —
" With female fairies will his tomb be haunted."
Or, as in the pathetic dirge of Collins on the same
occasion : —
"No wither'd witch shall here be seen,
No goblins lead their nightly crew ;
The female fays shall haunt the green.
And dress the grave with pearly dew."
This amiable quality is, likewise, thus beautifully
alluded to by the same poet : —
" By fairy hands their knell is rung,
By forms unseen their dirge is sung."
Their employment is thus charmingly represented
by Shakespeare, in the address of Prospero : —
" Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves ;
And ye, that on the sands, with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him
When he comes back ; you demi-puppets, that
24 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
By moou-shine do the green-sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites ; and you, whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms ; that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew."
In The Midsummer Night's Dream, the queen,
Titania, being desirous to take a nap, says to her
female attendants —
" Come, now a ronndel, and a fairy song ;
Then, for the third part of a minute hence ;
Some to kill cankers in the musk-rosebuds ;
Some, war with rear-mice for their leathern wings.
To make my small elves coats ; and some keep back
The clamorous owl that nightly hoots, and wonders
At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep ;
Then to your offices, and let me rest."
Milton gives a most beautiful and accurate de-
scription of the little green-coats of his native soil,
than which nothing can be more happily or justly
expressed. He had certainly seen them, in this
situation, with " the poet's eye " : —
"... Fairie elves,
Whose midnight revels, by a forest side
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon,
Sits arbitress, and neerer to the earth
W^heels her pale course, they, on thir mirth and dance
Intent, with jocond music charm his ear ;
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds."
The impression they made upon his imagination
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 25
in early life appears from his " Vacation Exercise,"
at the age of nineteen : —
" Good luck befriend thee, son ; for, at thy birth
The faiery ladies daunc't upon the hearth ;
The drowsie nurse hath sworn she did them spie
Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie,
And, sweetly singing round about thy bed,
Strew all their blessings on thy sleeping head."
L'Abb6 Bourdelon, in his Ridiculous Extravagances
of M. Oufl4, describes "The fairies of which," he
says, " grandmothers and nurses tell so many tales
to children. These fairies," adds he, "I mean, Avho
are affirmed to be blind at home, and very clear-
sighted abroad ; who dance in the moonshine when
they have nothing else to do ; who steal shepherds
and children, to carry them up to their caves," etc,
— (English translation, p. 190.)
The fairies have already called themselves spirits,
ghosts, or shadows, and consequently they never
died, a position, at the same time, of which there is
every kind of proof that a fact can require. The
reviser of Johnson and Steevens's edition of Shalce-
speare, in 1785, makes a ridiculous reference to the
allegories of Spenser, and a palpably false one to
Tickell's Kensington Gardens, Avhich he affirms " will
show that the opinion of fairies dying prevailed in
the last century," whereas, in fact, it is found, on
the slightest glance into the poem, to maintain the
direct reverse : —
26 ENGLISH FOLKLOKE.
*' Meanwhile sad Kenua, loath to quit the grove,
Hung o'er the body of her breathless love,
Try'd every art (vain arts !) to change his doom.
And vow'd (vain vows !) to join him in the tomb.
What would she do ? The Fates alike deny
The dead to live, or fairy forms to die."
The fact is so positively proved, that no editor
or commentator of Shakespeare, present or future,
will ever have the folly or impudence to assert " that
ill Shakespeare's time the notion of fairies dying was
generally known."
Ariosto informs us (in Harington's translation,
Bk. X. s. 47) that
"... (Either auncient folks believ'd a lie,
Or this is true) a fayrie cannot die."
And again (Bk. xliii. s. 92),
" I am a fayrie, and, to make you know,
To be a fayrie what it doth import :
We cannot dj^e, how old so ear we grow.
Of paines and harmes of ev'rie other sort
We tast, onelie no death we nature ow,"
Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Faithful Shepherdess,
describe —
" A virtuous well, about whose flow'ry banks
The nimble-footed fairies dance their rounds.
By the pale moonshine, dipping oftentimes
Their stolen children, so to make 'em free
From dying flesh, and dull mortality."
Puck, alias Eobin Good-fellow, is the most active
and extraordinary felloAV of a fairy that we any-
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 27
where meet with, and it is believed we find him
nowhere but in our own country, and, peradventure
also, only in the South. Spenser, it would seem, is
the first that alludes to his name of Puck : —
" Ne let the Pouke, nor other evill spright,
Ne let Hob-goblins, names whose sense we see not,
Fray us with things that be not."
"In our childhood," says Reginald Scot, "our
mothers' maids have so terrified us with an oughe
divell having homes on his head, fier in his mouth,
and a taile, eies like a bason, fanges like a dog,
clawes like a beare, a skin like a niger, and a voice
roaring like a lion, whereby we start and are afraid
when we heare one crie Bough ! and they have so
fraied us with bull-beggers, spirits, witches, urchens,
elves, hags, fairies, satyrs, pans, sylens. Kit with the
cansticke, tritons, centaurs, dwarfes, giants, imps,
calcars, conjurors, nymphes, changling, Incubus,
Eobin Goodfellow, the spoorne, the mare, the man
in the oke, the hell wain, the fier drake, the puckle,
Tom Thombe, Hob gobblin, Tom Tumbler, boneles,
and such other bugs, that we are afraid of our
owne shadowes." — {Discoverie of Witchcraft, London,
1584, 4to, p. 153.) "And know you this by the
waie," he says, " that heretofore Robin Goodfellow
and Hob goblin were as terrible, and also as credible,
to the people as hags and witches be now. . . .
And in truth, they that mainteine walking spirits
28 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
have no reason to denie Robin Goodfellow, upon
whom there hath gone as manie and as credible
tales as upon witches, saving that it hath not pleased
the translators of the Bible to call spirits by the name
of Robin Goodfellow."— (P. 131.)
" Your grandams' maides," says he, " were woont to
set a boll of milke before Incubus and his cousine
Robin Goodfellow for grinding of malt or mustard,
and sweeping the house at midnight ; and you have
also heard that he would chafe exceedingly if the
maid or good-wife of the house, having compassion
of his naked state, laid anie clothes for him, besides
his messe of white bread and milke, which was his
standing fee. For in that case he saith, "What have
we here 1
"Hemtou, hamton,
Here will I never more tread nor stampen."
(Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. So.)
Robin is thus characterised in The Midsunwier
Nighfs Bream by a female fairy : —
" Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else j'ou are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Call'd Robin Goodfellow : are you not he
That fright th» maidens of the villager}' ;
Skim milk ; aud sometimes labour in the quern,
Aud bootless make the breathless housewife churn ;
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm ;
Mislead uight-wauderers, laughing at their harm ?
Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck.
You do their work, and they shall have good luck."
A DISSERTATION OX FAIRIES. 29
To these questions Robin thus replies : —
" Thou speak'st aright ;
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon, and make him smile,
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal :
And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab ;
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale.
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me ;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And ' tailor,' cries, and falls into a cough ;
And then the whole quire hold their hips, and laugh ;
And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear,
A merrier hour was never wasted there."
His usual exclamation in this play is Ho, ho, ho !
"Ho, ho, ho ! Coward, why com'st thou not ? "
So in GiTin, the Collier of Croydon : —
" Ho, ho, ho ! my masters ! No good fellowship !
Is Robin GoodfeUow a bugbear grown.
That he is not worthy to be bid sit down ? "
In the song printed by Peck, he concludes every
stanza with Ho, ho, ho ! , ,
" If that the bowle of curds and creame were not
duly set out for Robin GoodfeUow, the frier, and
Sisse the dairymaid, why, then, either the pottage
was so burnt to next day in the pot, or the cheeses
would not curdle, or the butter would not come, or
30 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
the ale in the fat .never would have good head.
But if a Peter-penny, or an housle-egge were behind,
or a patch of tythe unpaid, then 'ware of bull-
beggars, spirits," etc.
This frolicsome spirit thus describes himself in
Jonson's masque of Love Restored : " Eobin Good-
fellow, he that sweeps the hearth and the house
clean, riddles for the country maids, and does all
their other drudgery, while they are at hot-cockles ;
one that has conversed with your court spirits ere
now." Having recounted several ineffectual attempts
he had made to gain admittance, he adds : " In this
despair, when all invention and translation too
failed me, I e'en went back and stuck to this shape
you see me in of mine own, with my broom and my
canles, and came on confidently." The mention of
his broom reminds us of a passage in another play,
Midsummer Night's Dream, where he tells the
audience —
" I am sent with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the door."
He is likewise one of the dramatis personce in the
old play of Wily Beguiled, in Avhich he says —
" Tush ! fear not the dodge. I '11 rather put on
my flashing red nose, and my flaming face, and come
wrap'd in a calf-skin, and cry Bo, bo ! I '11 pay the
scholar, I warrant thee." — (Harsnet's Declaration,
London, 1604, 4to.) His character, however, in
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 31
this piece, is so diabolical, aud so different from
anything one could expect in Eobin Good-fellow,
that it is unworthy of further quotation.
He appears, likewise, in another, entitled Grim,
the Collier of Croydon, in which he enters " in a suit
of leather close to his body; his face and hands
coloured russet colour, with a flail."
He is here, too, in most respects, the same strange
and diabolical personage that he is represented in
JFily Beguiled, only there is a single passage which
reminds us of his old habits : —
" When as I list in this transform'd disguise
I '11 fright the country people as I pass ;
And sometimes turn me to some other form,
And so delude them with fantastic shows,
But woe betide the silly dairymaids,
For I shall fleet their cream-bowls night by night."
In another scene he enters while some of the
other characters are at a bowl of cream, upon which
he says —
" I love a mess of cream as well as they ;
I think it were best I stept in and made one :
Ho, ho, ho ! my masters ! No good fellowship !
Is Robin Goodfellow a bugbear grown
That he is not worthy to be bid sit down ? "
There is, indeed, something characteristic in this
passage, but all the rest is totally foreign.
Doctor Percy, Bishop of Dromore, has reprinted
in his Beliqites of Ancient English Poetry^ very curious
r.
r
32 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
and excellent old ballad originally published by Peck,
who attributes it, but with no similitude, to Ben
Jouson, in which Eobin Good-fellow relates his
exploits with singular humour. To one of these
copies, he says, " were prefixed two wooden cuts,
which seem to represent ' the dresses in which this
whimsical character was formerly exhibited upon
the stage." In this conjecture, however, the learned
and ingenious editor was most egregiously mistaken,
these cuts being manifestly printed from the identical
blocks made use of by Bulwer in his " Artificial
Changeling," printed in 1 6 1 5, the first being intended
for one of the black and white gallants of Seale-bay
adorned with the moon, stars, etc., the other a
hairy savage.
Burton, speaking of fairies, says that " a bigger kind
there is of them, called with Hobgoblins, and Robin
Goodfellowes, that would in those superstitious
times, grinde corne for a messe of milke, cut wood,
or do any kind of drudgery worke." Afterward, of
the dsemons that mislead men in the night, he says,
"We commonly call them Pucks." — {Anatomy of
Ilelancholie.)
Cartwright, in The Ordinary, introduces Moth,
repeating this curious charm : —
" Saint Frances and Saint Benediglit
Blesse this house from wicked wight,
From the nightmare, and the goblin
That is hight Goodfellow Robin ;
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 33
Keep it from all evil spirits,
Fairies, weezels, rats, and ferrets ;
From curfew time
To the next prime."
(Act ITT. So. 1.)
This Puck, or Robin Good-fellow, seems, likewise,
to be the illusory candle-holder, so fatal to travellers,
and who is more usually called Jack-a-lantern, or
Will-with-a-wisp ; and, as it would seem from a
passage elsewhere cited from Scot, Kit with the
canstick Thus a fairy, in a passage of Shakespeare
already quoted, asks Robin —
"... Are you not he
That frights the maidens of the villagery,
Misleads night-wanderers laughing at their harm ? "
Milton alludes to this deceptive gleam in the
following lines —
"... A wandering fire,
Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night
Condenses, and the cold environs round,
Kindled through agitation to a flame.
Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends,
Hovering and blazing with delusive light,
Misleads th' amazed night-wanderer from his way
To bogs and mires, and oft through pond and pool."
(Paradise Lost, Bk. 9).
He elsewhere calls him " the frier's lantern." —
(L'AUegro).
This facetious spirit only misleads the benighted
traveller (generally an honest farmer, in his way
English. C
34 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
from the market, iu a state of intoxication) for the
joke's sake, as one very seldom, if ever, hears any
of his deluded follo^yers (who take it to be the
torch of Hero in some hospitable mansion, affording
" provision for man and horse ") perishing in these
ponds or pools, through which they dance or plunge
after him so merrily.
" There go as mania tales," says Eeginald Scot,
" upon Hudgin, in some parts of Germanie, as there
did in England of Eobin Good-fellow. . . . Frier
Eush was for all the world such another fellow as this
Hudgin, and brought up even in the same schoole —
to wit, in a kitchen, inasmuch as the selfe-same tale- is
written of the one as of the other, concerning the
skullian, who is said to have beene slaine, etc., for the
reading whereof I referre you to frier Eush his storie,
or else to John Wierus, De Frcestigiis Dcemonum."
In the old play of Gammer Ckirton' s Needle, printed
in 1575, Hodge, describing a "great black devil"
which had been raised by Diccon, the bedlam, and
being asked by Gammer —
" But, Hodge, had he no horns to push ?"
replies —
" As long as your two arms. Saw ye never Fryer Rushe,
Painted on a cloth, with a side-long cowe's tayle,
And crooked cloven feet, and many a hoked nayle ?
For al the world (if I schuld judg) chould reckon him his
brother ;
Loke even what face frier Rush had, the devil had such
another."
A DISSEETATION ON FAIRIES. 35
The fairies frequented many parts of the bishopric
of Durham. There is a hillock, or tumulus, near
Bishopton, and a large hill near Billingham, both
which used, in former time, to be " haunted by
fairies." Even Ferry-hill, a well-known stage
between Darlington and Durham, is evidently a
corruption of Fairy-hill. When seen, by accident or
favour, they are described as of the smallest size,
and uniformly habited in green. They could, how-
ever, occasionally assume a different size and appear-
ance; as a woman, who had been admitted into their
society, challenged one of the guests, whom she
espied in the market, selling fairy-butter. This
freedom was deeply resented, and cost her the eye
she first saw him with. Mr. Brand mentions his
having met with a man, who said he had seen one
who had seen the fairies. Truth, he adds, is to
be come at in most cases. None, he believes, ever
came nearer to it in this than he has done. How-
ever that may be, the present editor cannot pretend
to have been more fortunate. His informant related
that an acquaintance in Westmoreland, having a
great desire, and praying earnestly, to see a fairy,
was told by a friend, if not a fairy in disguise,
that on the side of such a hill, at such a time of
day, he should have a sight of one, and accordingly,
at the time and place appointed, " the hobgoblin,"
in his own words, " stood before him in the likeness
of a green-coat lad," but in the same instant, the
36 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
spectator's eye glancing, vanished into the hill.
This, he said, the man told him.
"The streets of Newcastle," says Mr. Brand,
" were formerly (so vulgar tradition has it) haunted
by a nightly guest, which appeared in the shape of
a mastiff dog, etc., and terrified such as were afraid
of shadows. I have heard," he adds, " when a boy,
many stories concerning it."
The no less famous barguest of Durham, and the
Picktree-ira^, have been already alluded to. The
former, beside its many other pranks, would some-
times, at the dead of night, in passing through the
different streets, set up the most horrid and con-
tinuous shrieks to scare the poor girls who might
happen to be out of bed. The compiler of the
present sheets remembers, when very young, to
have heard a respectable old woman, then a mid-
wife at Stockton, relate that when, in her youth-
ful days, she was a servant at Durham, being up late
one Saturday night cleaning the irons in the kitchen,
she heard these shrikes, first at a great and then
at a less distance, till at length the loudest and
most horrible that can be conceived, just at the
kitchen window, sent her upstairs, she did not
know how, where she fell into the arms of a fellow-
servant, who could scarcely prevent her fainting
away.
" Pioneers or diggers for metal," according to
Lavater, " do afiirme that in many mines there
A DISSERTATION ON FAIRIES. 37
appeare straunge shapes and spirites, who are
apparelled like unto other laborers in the pit.
These wander up and down in caves and under-
minings, and seeme to bestuire themselves in all kinde
of labour, as to digge after the veine, to carrie to-
gither oare, to put it in baskets, and to turne the
winding-whele to draw it up, when, in very deede,
they do nothing lesse. They very seldome hurte
the labourers (as they say) except they provoke them
by laughing and rayling at them, for then they
threw gravel stones at them, or hurt them by some
other means. These are especially haunting in
pittes where mettall moste aboundeth." — (Of ghosfes,
etc., London, 1572, 4to, p. 73.)
This is our great Milton's
"Swart faery of the mine."
" Simple foolish men imagine, I know not howe,
that there be certayne elves or fairies of the earth,
and tell many straunge and marvellous tales of
them, Avhich they have heard of their grandmothers
and mothers, howe they have appeared unto those
of the house, have done service, have rocked the
cradell, and (which is a signe of good luck) do con-
tinually tarry in the house." — (Of gJiostes, etc., p. 49.)
Mallet, though without citing any authority,
says, "after all, the notion is not everywhere ex-
ploded that there are in the bowels -of the earth,
fairies, or a kind of dwarfish and tiny beings of
38 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
human shape, and remarkable for their riches, their
activity, and malevolence. In many countries of
the north, the people are still firmly persuaded of
their existence. In Ireland, at this day, the good
folk show the very rocks and hills in which they
maintain that there are swarms of these small sub-
terraneous men, of the most tiny size, but the most
delicate figures." — {Northern Antiquities, etc, ii. 47.)
There is not a more generally received opinion
throughout the principality of Wales than that of
the existence of fairies. Amongst the commonalty it
is, indeed, universal, and by no means unfrequently
credited by the second ranks.
Fairies are said, at a distant period, "to have
frequented Bussers-hill in St. Mary's island, but
their nightly pranks, aerial gambols, and cockle-
shell abodes, are now quite unknown." — (Heath's
Account of the Islands of Scilly, p. 129.)
" Evil spirits, called fairies, are frequently seen in
several of the isles [of Oi'kney], dancing and making
merry, and sometimes seen in armour." — (Brand's
Description of Orhieij, Edin., 1703, p. 61.)
NELLY, THE KNOCKER.
A FARM-STEADING situated near the borders of
Northumberland, a few miles from Haltwhistle, was
once occupied by a family of the name of W
K n. In front of the dwelling-house, and at
about sixty yards' distance, lay a stone of vast size,
as ancient, for so tradition amplifies the date, as
the flood. On this stone, at the dead hour of the
night, might be discerned a female figure, wrapped
in a grey cloak, with one of those low- crowned
black bonnets, so familiar to our grandmothers,
upon her head. She was incessantly knock, knock,
knocking, in a fruitless endeavour to split the im-
penetrable rock. Duly as night came round, she
occupied her lonely station, in the same low crouch-
ing attitude, and pursued the dreary obligations of
her destiny, till the grey streaks of the dawn gave
admonition to depart. From this, the only per-
ceptible action in which she engaged, she obtained
the name of Nelly, the Knocker. So perfectly had
the inmates of the farmhouse in the lapse of time,
which will reconcile sights and events the most
disagreeable and alarming, become accustomed to
39
40 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
Nelly's undeviating nightly din, that the work went
forward unimpeded and undisturbed by any appre-
hension accruing from her shadowy presence. Did
the servant-man make his punctual resort to the
neighbouring cottages, he took the liberty of scrutin-
ising Nelly's antiquated garb that varied not with
the vicissitudes of seasons, or he pried sympatheti-
cally into the progress of her monotonous occupation,
and though her pale, ghastly, contracted features
gave a momentary pang of terror, it was rapidly
effaced in the vortex of good fellowship into which
he was speedily drawn. Did the loon venture an
appointment with his mistress at the rustic style of
the stack-garth, Nelly's unwearied hammer, instead
of proving a barrier, only served, by imparting a
grateful sense of mutual danger, to render more
intense the raptures of the hour of meeting. So
apathetic were the feelings cherished towards her,
and so little jealousy existed of her power to injure,
that the relater of these circumstances states that
on several occasions she has passed Nelly at her
laborious toil, without evincing the slightest per-
turbation, beyond a hurried step, as she stole a
glance at the inexplicable and mysterious form.
An event, in the course of years, disclosed the
secrets that marvellous stone shrouded, and drove
poor Nelly for ever from the scene so inscrutably
linked with her fate.
Two of the sons of the farmer were rapidly ap-
proaching maturity, when one of them, more reflecting
NELLY, THE KNOCKEK. 41
and shrewd than his compeers, suggested the idea of
relieving Nelly from her toilsome avocation, and
of taking possession of the alluring legacy to which
she was evidently and urgently summoning. He
proposed, conjointly with his father and brother, to
blast the stone, as the most expeditious mode of
gaining access to her arcana, and, this in the open
daylight, in order that any tutelary protection she
might be disposed to extend to her favourite haunt
might, as she was a thing of darkness and the night,
be effectually countervailed. Nor were their hopes
frustrated, for, upon clearing away the earth and
fragments that resulted from the explosion, there
was revealed to their elated and admiring gaze, a
precious booty of closely packed urns copiously en-
riched with gold. Anxious that no intimation of
their good fortune should transpire, they had taken
the precaution to despatch the female servant on a
needless errand, and ere her return the whole trea-
sure was efficiently and completely secured. So
completely did they succeed in keeping their own
counsel, and so successfully did their reputation
keep pace with the cautious production of their
undivulged treasures, that for many years afterwards
they were never suspected of gaining any advantage
from poor Nelly's " knocking " ; their improved ap-
pearance, and the somewhat imposing figure they
made in their little district, being solely attributed
to their superior judgment, and to the good manage-
ment of their lucky farm.
THE THREE FOOLS.
There was once a good-looking girl, the daughter
of well-off country folk, who was loved by an honest
young fellow named John. He courted her for a
long time, and at last got her and her parents to
consent to his marrying her, which was to come off
in a few weeks' time.
One day as the girl's father was working in his
garden he sat down to rest himself by the well, and,
looking in, and seeing how deep it was, he fell a-
thinking.
"If Jane had a child," said he to himself, "who
knows but that one day it might play about here
and fall in and be killed ? "
The thought of such a thing filled him with
sorrow, and he sat crying into the well for some
time until his wife came to him.
"What is the matter?" asked she. "What are
you crying for 1 "
Then the man told her his thoughts —
" If Jane marries and has a child," said he, " who
knows but it might play about here and some day
fall into the well and be killed 1 "
42
THE THREE FOOLS. 43
"Alack!" cried the woman, "I never thought
of that before. It is, indeed, possible."
So she sat down and wept with her husband.
As neither of them came to the house the daughter
shortly came to look for them, and when she found
them sitting crying into the well —
"What is the matter?" asked she. "Why do
you weep 1"
So her father told her of the thought that had
struck him.
" Yes," said she, " it might happen."
So she too sat down with her father and mother,
and wept into the well.
They had sat there a good while when John
comes to them.
" What has made you so sad 1 " asked he.
So the father told him what had occurred, and said
that he should be afraid to let him have his daughter
seeing her child might fall into the well.
" You are three fools," said the young man, when
he had heard him to an end, and leaving them, he
thought over whether he should try to get Jane for
his wife or not. At length he decided that he
would marry her if he could find three people more
foolish than her and her father and mother. He
put on his boots and went out.
" I will walk till I wear these boots out," said he,
" and if I find three more foolish people before I am
barefoot, I will marry her."
44 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
So he went on, and walked very far till he came
to a barn, at the door of which stood a man with a
shovel in his hands. He seemed to be working very
hard, shovelling the air in at the door.
" What are you doing 1 " asked John,
" I am shovelling in the sunbeams," replied the
man, " to ripen the corn."
" Why don't you have the corn out in the sun for
it to ripen it ? " asked John.
" Good," said the man, " AVhy, I never thought
of that ! Good luck to you, for you have saved me
many a weary day's work."
"That 's fool number one," said John, and went on.
He travelled a long way, until one day he came
to a cottage, against the wall of it was placed a
ladder, and a man was trying to pull a cow up it
by means of a rope, one end of which was round
the cow's neck.
" What are you about ? " asked John.
" Why," replied the man, " I want the cow up on
the roof to eat off that fine tuft of grass you see
growing there."
" Why don't you cut the grass and give it to the
cow 1 " asked John.
" Why, now, I never thought of that ! " answered
the man. " So I will, of course, and many thanks,
for many a good cow have I killed in trying to get
it up there."
"That's fool number two," said John to himself.
THE THREE FOOLS. 45
He walked on a long way, thinking there were
more fools in the world than he had thought, and
wondering what would be the next one he should
meet. He had to wait a long time, however, and
to walk very far, and his boots were almost worn
out before he found another.
One day, however, he came to a field, in the
middle of which he saw a pair of trousers standing
up, being held up by sticks, A man was running
about them and jumping over and over them.
" Hullo ! " cried John. " What are you about 1 "
" Why," said the man, " what need is there to
ask 1 Don't you see I want to get the trousers on 1 "
so saying he took two or three more runs and
jumps, but always jumped either to this side or
that of the trousers.
" Why don't you take the trousers and draw them
on 1 " asked John.
" Good," said the man. " Why, I never thought
of it ! Many thanks. I only wish you had come
before, for I have lost a great deal of time in trying
to jump into them."
" That," said John, " is fool number three."
So, as his boots were not yet quite worn out, he
returned to his home and went again to ask Jane
of her father and mother. At last they gave her
to him, and they lived very happily together, for
John had a rail put round the well and the child
did not fall into it.
SOME MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN
OF GOTHAM.
From a chap-book printed at Hull in the beginning of the
present century.]
Tale First.
There were two men of Gotham, and one of them
was going to the market at Nottingham to buy-
sheep, and the other was coming from the market,
and both met together on Nottingham bridge.
" AVell met," said the one to the other.
"Whither are you a-going?" said he that came
from Nottingham.
" Marry," said he that was going thither, " I am
going to the market to buy sheep."
"Buy sheep," said the other; "and which way
will you bring them home 1 "
" Marry," said the other, " I will bring them over
this bridge."
"By Robin Hood," said he that came from Not-
tingham, " but thou shalt not."
"By maid Marjoram," said he that was going
thither, " but I will,"
46
MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. 47
" Thou shalt not," said the one.
" I will," said the other,
"Tut here," said the one, and "Tut there," said
the other. Then they beat their staves against the
ground one against the other, as if there had been
a hundred sheep betwixt them.
" Hold them there," said one.
"BeAvare of the leaping over the bridge of my
sheep," said the other,
" I care not."
" They shall all come this way," said the one,
" But they shall not," said the other.
As they were in contention, another wise man
that belonged to Gotham came from the market
with a sack of meal upon his horse, and seeing and
hearing his neighbours at strife about sheep, and
none betwixt them, said he —
" Ah, fools ! will you never learn wit 1 Then
help me," said he that had the meal, " and lay this
sack upon my shoulder."
They did so, and he went to one side of the
bridge, and unloosed the mouth of the sack, and
shook out the meal into the river. Then said he —
"How much meal is there in the sack, neigh-
bours f
"Marry," answered they, "none."
"Now, by my faith," replied this wise man,
" even so much wit is there in your two heads, to
strive concerning that thing which you have not."
48 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
Now, which was the wisest of all these three
persons I leave you to judge.
Tale Second.
On a time the men of Gotham fain would have
pinned in the cuckoo, whereby she should sing all
the year ; and in the midst of the town they had a
hedge made round in compass, and they got the
cuckoo, and put her into it, and said —
" Sing here, and you shall lack neither meat nor
drink all the year."
The cuckoo, when she perceived herself encom-
passed within the hedge, flew away.
" A vengeance on her," said the wise men, " we
made not our hedge high enough."
Tale Third.
There was a man of Gotham who went to the
market of Nottingham to sell cheese, and, as he was
going down the hill to Nottingham bridge, one of
his cheese fell out of his wallet, and ran down the
hill.
"What! " said the fellow, "can you run to the
market alone? I will now send one after the
other."
Then laying down the wallet, and taking out the
cheese, he tumbled them down the hill, one after
the other, and some ran into one bush and some into
another, so at last he said —
MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. 49
"I do charge you to meet me in the market-
place."
And when the man came into the market to meet
the cheese, he stayed until the market was almost
done, then went and inquired of his neighbours and
other men if they did see his cheese come to
market.
"Why, who should bring them 1" said one of his
neighbours.
" Marry, themselves ! " said the fellow. " They
knew the way well enough," said he. "A ven-
geance on them, for I was afraid, to see my cheese
run so fast, that they would run beyond the market.
I am persuaded that they are by this time almost at
York."
So he immediately takes a horse, and rides after
them to York, but was very much disappointed.
But to this day no man has ever heard of the
cheese.
Tale Fourth.
When that Good Friday was come the men of
Gotham did cast their heads together what to do
with their white herrings, red herrings, their sprats,
and salt fish. Then one counselled with the other,
and agreed that all such fish should be cast into the
pond or pool, which was in the middle'^of the town,
that the number of them might increase against the
next year. Therefore every one that had got any
English. j-v
50 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
fish left did cast them into the pond. Then one
said —
** I have as yet gotten left so many red herrings."
" Well," said the other, " and I have left so many
whitings."
Another immediately cried out —
"I have as yet gotten so many sprats left."
" And," said the last, " I have got so many salt
fishes. Let them all go together into the great
pond without any distinction, and we may be sure
to fare like lords the next year."
At the beginning of the next Lent they imme-
diately went about drawing the pond, imagining
they should have the fish, but were much surprised
to find nothing but a great eel.
"Ah !" said they, "a mischief on this eel, for he
hath eaten up our fish."
"What must we do with him?" said one to the
other.
" Kill him !" said one to the other.
" Chop him into pieces," said another.
" Nay, not so," said the other, " but let us drown
him."
" Be it accordingly so," replied they all.
So they immediately went to another pond, and
did cast the eel into the water.
" Lie there," said these wise men, " and shift for
thyself, since you can expect no help from us."
So they left the eel to be drowned.
merry tales of the wise men of gotham. 51
Tale Fifth.
On a certain time there were twelve men of
Gotham that went a-fishing ; and some did wade
in the water, and some did stand upon dry land.
And when they went homeward, one said to the
other —
" We have ventured wonderful hard this day in
wading, I pray God that none of us may have come
from home to be drowned."
" Nay, marry," said one to the other, " let us see
that, for there did twelve of us come out."
Then they told themselves, and every man told
eleven, and the twelfth man did never tell himself.
"Alas !" said the one to the other, " there is some
one of us drowned."
They went back to the brook where they had
been fishing, and did make a great lamentation. A
courtier did come riding by, and did ask what it
was they sought for, and why they were so sor-
rowful.
"Oh!" said they, "this day we went to fish in
the brook, and here did come out twelve of us, and
one of us is drowned. "
" Why," said the courtier, " tell how many there
be of you," and the one said eleven, and he did not
tell himself.
" Well," said the courtier, " what will you give
me, and I will find out twelve men V
52 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
" Sir," said they, " all the money we have got."
"Giv^e me the money," said the courtier; and be-
gan with the first, and gave a recommendibus over
the shoulders, which made him groan, saying, " Here
is one ; " and so he served them all, that they
groaned at the matter. When he came to the last,
he paid him well, saying —
" Here is the twelfth man."
" God's blessing on thy heart for finding out our
dear brother."
Tale Sixth.
A man's wife of Gotham had a child, and the
father bid the gossips, which were children of eight
or ten years of age. The eldest child's name,
who was to be godfather, was called Gilbert, the
second child's name was Humphrey, and the god-
mother's name was Christabel. The friends of all
of them did admonish them, saying, that divers of
times they must say after the priest. When they
were all come to the church-door, the priest
said —
" Be you all agreed of the name ? "
" Be you all," said Gilbert, " agreed of the
name i
The priest then said —
" Wherefore do you come hither 1 "
Gilbert said, "Wherefore do you come hither]"
Humphrey said, " Wherefore do you come hither ] "
MERRY TALES OF THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. 53
And Christabel said, " Wherefore do you come
hither ? "
The priest being amazed, he could not tell what
to say, but whistled and said " Whew ! "
Gilbert whistled and said '"' Whew ! " Humphrey
whistled and said " Whew ! " and so did Christabel.
The priest being angry, said —
" Go home, fools, go home ! "
Then said Gilbert and Humphrey and Christabel
the same. #
The priest then himself provided for god-fathers
and god-mothers.
Here a man may see that children can do nothing
without good instruction, and that they are not wise
wJio regard them.
THE TULIP FAIRIES.
Near a pixy field in the ueiglibourlioocl of Dart-
moor, there lived, on a time, an old woman who
possessed a cottage and a very pretty garden, wherein
she cultivated a most beautiful bed of tulips. The
pixies, it is traditionally averred, so delighted in
this spot that they would carry their elfin babes
thither, and sing them to rest. Often, at the dead
hour of the night, a sweet lullaby was heard, and
strains of the most melodious music would float in
the air, that seemed to owe their origin to no other
musicians than the beautiful tulips themselves, and
whilst these delicate flowers waved their heads to
the evening breeze, it sometimes seemed as if they
were marking time to their own singing. As soon
as the elfin babes were lulled asleep by such melodies,
the pixies would return to the neighbouring field,
and there commence dancing, making those rings on
the green which showed, even to mortal eyes, what
sort of gambols had occupied them during the night
season.
At the first dawn of light the watchful pixies
once more sought the tulips, and, though still
54
THE TULIP FAIRIES. 55
invisible they could be heard kissing and caressing
their babies. The tulips, thus favoured by a race
of genii, retained their beauty much longer than any
other flowers in the garden, whilst, though contrary
to their nature, as the pixies breathed over them,
they became as fragrant as roses, and so delighted
at all was the old woman who kept the garden that
she never suffered a single tulip to be plucked from
its stem.
At length, however, she died, and the heir who
succeeded her destroyed the enchanted flowers, and
converted the spot into a parsley-bed, a circumstance
which so disappointed and off"ended the pixies, that
they caused all the parsley to wither away, and,
indeed, for many years nothing would grow in the
beds of the Avhole garden. These sprites, however,
though eager in resenting an injury, were, like most
warm spirits, equally capable of returning a benefit,
and if they destroyed the product of the good old
woman's garden when it had fallen into unworthy
hands, they tended the bed that wrapped her clay
with affectionate solicitude. They were heard
lamenting and singing sweet dirges around her
grave ; nor did they neglect to pay this mournful
tribute to her memory every night before the moon
was at the full, for then their high solemnity of
dancing, singing, and rejoicing took place to hail
the queen of the night on completing her circle in
the heavens. No human hand ever tended the grave
56 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
of the poor old woman who had nurtured the tulip
bed for the delight of these elfin creatures ; but no
rank weed was ever seen to grow upon it. The sod
was ever green, and the prettiest flowers would
spring up without sowing or planting, and so they
continued to do until it was supposed the mortal
body was reduced to its original dust.
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND
THE GIANTS.
I.
[From a Chap-book printed and sold in Aldermary
Churchyard, London. Probable date, 1780.]
In the reign of King Arthur, near to the Land's
End of England, in the County of Cornwall, lived
a wealthy farmer, who had a son named Jack. He
was brisk and of a ready wit, so that whatever he
could not perform by force and strength he completed
by wit and policy. Never was any person heard of
that could worst him. Nay, the very learned many
times he has baffled by his cunning and sharp
inventions.
In those days the Mount of Cornwall was kept by
a large and monstrous giant of eighteen feet high,
and about three yards in circumference, of a fierce
and grim countenance, the terror of the neighbouring
towns and villages.
His habitation was in a cave in the midst of the
Mount. Never would he suffer any living creature
to keep near him. His feeding was on other men's
67
58 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
cattle, which often became his prey, for whenever he
wanted food, he would wade over to the mainland,
where he would well furnish himself with whatever
he could find, for the people at his approach would
all forsake their habitations. Then would he seize
upon their cows and oxen, of which he would think
nothing to carry over upon his back half a dozen at
one time ; and as for their sheep and boys, he would
tie them round his waist like a bunch of candles.
This he practised for many years, so that a great
part of the county of Cornwall was very much im-
poverished by him.
Jack having undertaken to destroy this voracious
monster, he furnished himself with a horn, a shovel,
and a pickaxe, and over to the mount he went in
the beginning of a dark winter's evening, where he
fell to work, and before morning had dug a pit
twenty-two feet deep, and in width nearly the same,
and covering it over with sticks and straw, and then
strewing a little mould over it, it appeared like
plain ground. Then, putting his horn to his mouth,
he blew tan-tivy, tan-tivy, which noise awoke the
giant, who came roaring towards Jack, crying
out —
" You incorrigible villain, you shall pay dearly for
disturbing me, for I will broil you for my breakfast."
These words were no sooner spoke, but he tumbled
lieadlong into the pit, and the heavy fall made the
foundation of the Mount to shake.
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 59
" 0 Mr. Giant, where are you now 1 Oh, faith,
you are gotten into Lob's Pound, where I will surely
plague you for your threatening words. What do
you think now of broiling me for your breakfast 1
Will no other diet serve you but poor Jack 1 "
Having thus spoken and made merry with him a
while, he struck him such a blow on the crown with
his pole-axe that he tumbled down, and with a groan
expired. This done, Jack threw the dirt in upon
him and so buried him. Then, searching the cave,
he found much treasure.
Now when the magistrates who employed Jack
heard that the job was over, the}' sent for him,
declaring that he should be henceforth called Jack
the Giant Killer, and in honour thereof presented
him with a sword and an embroidered belt, upon
which these words were written in letters of gold —
" Here 's the valiant Coruish mau,
Who slew the giant, Cormorau."
The news of Jack's victory was soon spread over
the western parts, so that another giant, called Old
Blunderbore, hearing of it, vowed to be revenged on
Jack, if it ever was his fortune to light on him.
The giant kept an enchanted castle situated in the
midst of a lonesome wood.
About four months after as Jack was walk-
ing by the borders of this wood, on his journey
towards Wales, he grew weary, and therefore sat
60 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
himself dowu by the side of a pleasant fountain,
when a deep sleep suddenly seized him. At this
time the giant, coming there for water, found him,
and by the lines upon his belt immediately knew
him to be Jack, who had killed his brother giant.
So, without any words, he took him upon his
shoulder to carry him to his enchanted castle. As
he passed through a thicket, the jostling of the
boughs awoke Jack, who, finding himself in the
clutches of the giant was very much surprised,
though it Avas but the beginning of his terrors,
for, entering the walls of the castle, he found the
floor strewn and the walls covered with the skulls
and bones of dead men, when the giant told him
his bones should enlarge the number of what he
saw. He also told him that the next day he
would eat him with pepper and vinegar, and he did
not question but that he would find him a curious
breakfast. This said, he locks up poor Jack in an
upper room, leaving him there while he went out to
fetch another giant who lived in the same wood,
that he also might partake of the pleasure they
should have in the destruction of honest Jack.
While he was gone dreadful shrieks and cries
affrighted Jack, especially a voice which continually
cried —
" Do what you can to get away,
Or you '11 become the giant's prey ;
He 's gone to fetch his brother who
Will likewise kill and torture you,"
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 61
This dreadful noise so affrighted poor Jack, that
he was ready to run distracted. Then, going to a
window he oiDened the casement, and beheld afar
off the two giants coming.
" So now," quoth Jack to himself, " my death or
deliverance is at hand."
There were two strong cords in the room by him,
at the end of which he made a noose, and as the
giants were unlocking the iron gates, he threw the
ropes over the giants' heads, and then threw the
other end across a beam, when he pulled with all
his might till he had throttled them. Then, fastening
the ropes to a beam, he returned to the window,
where he beheld the two giants black in the face,
and so sliding down the ropes, he came upon the
heads of the helpless giants, Avho could not defend
themselves, and, drawing his own sword, he slew
them both, and so delivered himself from their
intended cruelty. Then, taking the bunch of keys,
he entered the castle, where, upon strict search, he
found three ladies tied up by the hair of their heads,
and almost starved to death.
" Sweet ladies," said Jack, " I have destroyed the
monster and his brutish brother, by which means I
have 'obtained your liberties."
This said, he presented them with the keys of the
castle, and proceeded on his journey to Wales.
Jack having got but little money, thought it
prudent to make the best of his way by travelling
G2 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
hard, and at lengtli, losing liis road, he was benighted,
and could not get a place of entertainment, till,
coining to a valley between two hills, he found a
large house in a lonesome place, and by reason of
his present necessity he took courage to knock at
the gate. To his amazement there came forth a
monstrous giant, having two heads, yet he did not
seem so fiery as the other two, for he was a Welsh
giant, and all he did was by private and secret
malice, under the false show of friendship. Jack,
telling his condition, he bid him welcome, showing
him into a room with a bed, where he might take
his night's repose. Upon this Jack undressed him-
self, but as the giant was walking to another
apartment Jack heard him mutter these words to
himself —
" Tho' here you lodge with me this night,
You shall not see the morning light,
My club shall dash your brains out quite."
" Say you so 1 " says Jack. " Is this one of your
Welsh tricks 1 I hope to be as cunning as you."
Then, getting out of bed, and feeling about the
room in the dark, he found a thick billet of wood,
and laid it in the bed in his stead, then he hid
himself in a dark corner of the room. In the' dead
time of the night came the giant with his club, and
he struck several blows on the bed where Jack had
artfully laid the billet. Then the giant returned
back to his own room, supposing he had broken all
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 63
his bones. Early in the morning Jack came to
thank him for his lodgins:.
"Oh," said the giant, "how have you rested?
Did you see anything in the night 1 "
"No," said Jack, "but a rat gave me three or
four slaps with his tail."
Soon after the giant went to breakfast on a great
bowl of hasty pudding, giving Jack but a small
quantity. Jack, being loath to let him know he
could not eat with him, got a leather bag, and,
putting it artfully under his coat, put the pudding
into it. Then he told the giant he would show him
a trick, and taking up a knife he ripped open the
bag and out fell the pudding. The giant thought he
had cut open his stomach and taken the pudding out.
"Odds splutters," says he, "hur can do that hur-
self," and, taking the knife up, he cut himself so
badly that he fell down and died.
Thus Jack outwitted the Welsh giant and pro-
ceeded on his journey.
King Arthur's only son desired his father to
furnish him with a certain sum of money, that he
might go and seek his fortune in the principality of
Wales, where a beautiful lady lived, whom he had
heard was possessed with seven evil spirits.
The king, his father, counselled him against it,
yet he could not be persuaded, so the favour was
granted, which was one horse loaded with money,
and another to ride on. Thus he went forth with-
64 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
out any attendants., and after several days' travel he
came to a large market-town in Wales, where he
beheld a vast crowd of people gathered together.
The king's son demanded the reason of it, and was
told that they had arrested a corpse for many large
sums of money, which the deceased owed before he
diea The king's son replied —
"It is a pity that creditors should be so cruel.
Go, bury the dead, and let the creditors come to my
lodgings, and their debts shall be discharged."
Accordingly they came, and in such great numbers
that before night he had almost left himself penni-
less. Now Jack the Giant Killer being there, and
seeing the generosity of the king's son, desired to be
his servant. It being agreed on, the next morning
they set forward. As they were riding out of the
town's end, an old woman cried out —
" He has owed me twopence seven years, pray,
sir, pay me as well as the rest."
The king's son put his hand in his pocket and
gave it her, it being the last money he had, then,
turning to Jack, he said —
" Take no thought nor heed. Let me alone, and
I warrant you we will never want."
Now Jack had a small spell in his pocket, the
which served for a refreshment, after which they had
but one penny left between them. They spent the
forenoon in travel and familiar discourse, until the
sun grew low, when the king's son said —
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 65
" Jack, since we have got no money where can
we lodge to-night 1 "
Jack replied —
" Master, we will do well enough, for I have an
uncle who lives within two miles of this place. He
is a huge and monstrous giant, having three beads.
He will beat five hundred men in armour, and make
them fly before him."
" Alas ! " said the king's son, " what shall we do
there? He will eat us up at a mouthful — nay, we
are scarce sufficient to fill one hollow tooth."
" It is no matter for that," says Jack. " I myself
will go before and prepare the way for you. Tarry
here, and wait my return."
He Avaited, and Jack rode full speed. Coming to
the castle gate, he immediately began to knock with
such force that all the neighbouring hills resounded.
The giant, roaring with a voice like thunder, called —
" Who is there 1 "
" None, but your poor cousin Jack."
. " And what news," said he, " with my cousin
Jack?"
He replied —
" Dear uncle, heavy news."
" God wot ! Prithee ! what heavy news can come
to me ? I am a giant with three heads, and besides,
thou knowest, I fight five hundred men in armour,
and make them all fly like chaff" before the wind."
" Oh," said Jack, " but here is a king's son coming
6G ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
witii a thousand ineu in armour to kill you, and to
destroy all you have."
" 0 my cousin Jack, this is heavy news indeed,
but I have a large vault underground where I ■will
run and hide myself, and you shall lock, bolt, and
bar me in, and keep the keys till the king's son is
gone."
Jack, having now secured the giant, returned and
fetched his master, and both made merry with the
best dainties the house afforded. In the morning
Jack furnished his master mth fresh supplies of
gold and silver, and having set him three miles on
the road out of the giant's smell, he returned and
let his uncle out of the hole, who asked Jack what
he should give him for his care of him, seeing his
castle was demolished.
" Why," said Jack, " I desire nothing but your
old rusty sword, the coat in the closet, and the cap
and the shoes at your bed's head."
"Ay," said the giant, "thou shalt have them,
and be sure keep you them, for my sake. They are
things of excellent use. The coat will keep you
invisible, the cap will furnish you with knowledge,
the sword cuts asunder whatever you strike, and the
shoes are of extraordinary swiftness. They may be
serviceable to you, so take them with all my heart."
Jack took them, and immediately followed his
master. Having overtaken him, they soon arrived
at the lady's dwelling, who, finding the king's son to
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 67
be a suitor, prepared a banquet for him, which being
ended, she wiped her mouth with a handkerchief,
saying — " You must show me this to-morrow morn-
ing, or lose your head," and then she put it in her
bosom.
The king's son went to bed right sorrowful, but
Jack's cap of knowledge instructed him how to
obtain the handkerchief In the midst of the night
the lady called upon her familiar to carry her to
Lucifer. Jack whipped on his coat of darkness,
with his shoes of swiftness, and was there before
her, but could not be seen by reason of his coat,
which rendered him perfectly invisible to Lucifer
himself. When the lady came she gave him the
handkerchief, from whom Jack took it, and brought
it to his master, who, showing it the next morning
to the lady, saved his life. This much surprised the
lady, but he had yet a harder trial to undergo. The
next night the lady salutes the king's son, telling
him he must show her the next day the lips she
kissed last or lose his head.
" So I will," replied he, " if you kiss none but
mine."
" It is neither here nor there for that," says she.
" If you do not, death is your portion."
At midnight she went again and chid Lucifer for
letting the handkerchief go.
" But now," said she, " I shall be too hard for the
king's son, for I will kiss thee, and he is to show me
68 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
the lips I kissed last, and he can never show me thy
lips."
Jack, standing up with his sword of sharpness,
cut off the evil spirit's head, and brought it under
his invisible coat to his master, who laid it at the
end of his bolster, and in the morning, when the
lady came up, he pulled it out and showed her the
lips which she kissed last. Thus, she having been
answered twice, the enchantment broke, and the
evil spirit left her, to their mutual joy and satisfac-
tion. Then she appeared her former self, both
beauteous and virtuous. They were married the
next morning, and soon after returned with joy to
the court of King Arthur, where Jack, for his good
services, was made one of the knights of the Round
Table.
11.
[From a Chap-book, printed and sold at Newcastle,
by J. White, 1711.]
Jack, having been successful in all his undertak-
ings, and resolved not to be idle for the future, but to
perform what service he could for the honour of his
king and country, humbly requested of the king, his
royal master, to fit him with a horse and money, to
travel in search of strange and new adventures.
"For," said he, "there are many giants yet living
in the remote parts of the kingdom, and in the
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS, 69
dominions of Wales, to the unspeakable damage of
your majesty's liege subjects, wherefore, may it
please your majesty to give me encouragement, and
I doubt not but in a short time to cut them all off,
root and branch, and so rid the realm of those cruel
giants and devouring monsters in nature,"
Now, when the king had heard these noble pro-
positions, and had duly considered the mischievous
practices of those bloodthirsty giants, he immedi-
ately granted what honest Jack requested. And on
the first day of March, being thoroughly furnished
with all necessaries for his progress, he took his
leave, not only of King Arthur, but likewise of
all the trusty and hardy knights belonging to the
Eound Table, who, after much salutation and friendly
greeting, parted, the king and nobles to their courtly
palaces, and Jack the Giant Killer to the eager
pursuit of Fortune's favours, taking with him the
cap of knowledge, sword of sharpness, shoes of swift-
ness, and likewise the invisible coat, the latter to
perfect and complete the dangerous enterprises that
lay before him.
He travelled over vast hills and wonderful moun-
tains till, at the end of three days, he came to a
large and spacious wood, through which he must
needs pass, where, on a sudden, to his great amaze-
ment, he heard dreadful shrieks and cries. Casting
his eyes around to observe what it might be, he
beheld with wonder a giant rushing along with a
70 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
worthy knight and his fair lady, whom he held by
the hair of their heads in his hands, with as much
ease as if they had been but a pair of gloves, the
sight of which melted honest Jack into tears of pity
and compassion. Alighting off his horse, which he
left tied to an oak-tree, and then putting on his
invisible coat, under which he carried his sword of
sharpness, he came up to the giant, and, though he
made several passes at him, yet, nevertheless, he
could not reach the trunk of his body by reason of
his height, though he wounded his thighs in several
places. At length, giving him a swinging stroke,
he cut off both his legs, just below the knees, so
that the trunk of his body made not only the ground
to shake, but likewise the trees to tremble with the
force of its fall, at which, by mere fortune, the
knight and his lady escaped his rage. Then had
Jack time to talk with him, and, setting his foot
upon his neck, he said —
" Thou savage and barbarous wretch, I am come
to execute upon you the just reward of your villainy,"
and with that, running him through and through,
the monster sent forth a hideous groan, and yielded
up his life into the hands of the valiant conqueror,
Jack tlie Giant Killer, while the noble knight and
virtuous lady were both joyful spectators of his
sudden downfall and their deliverance.
This being done, the courteous knight and his
fair lady not only returned Jack hearty thanks for
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 71
their deliverance, but also invited him home, there
to refresh himself after the dreadful encounter, as
likewise to receive some ample reward, by way of
gratuity, for his good service.
"No," quoth Jack; "I cannot be at ease till I
find out the den which was this monster's habita-
tion."
The knight, hearing this, waxed right sorrowful
and replied —
" Noble stranger, it is too much to run a second
risk, for note, this monster lived in a den under yon
mountain with a brother of his, more fierce and fiery
than himself. Therefore, if you should go thither
and perish in that attempt it would be the heart-
breaking of both me and my lady. Therefore let
me persuade you to go with us, and desist from any
further pursuit."
" Nay," quoth Jack, " if there be another — nay,
were there twenty, I would shed the last drop of
blood in my body before one of them should escape
my fury. When I have finished this task I will
come and pay my respects to you."
So, having taken the directions to their habita-
tion, he mounted his horse, leaving them to return
home, while he went in pursuit of the deceased
giant's brotlier. He had not ridden past a mile and
a half before he came in sight of the cave's mouth,
near to the entrance of which he beheld the other
giant sitting upon a huge block of timber with a
72 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
knotted iron club lying by his side, waiting, as Jack
supposed, for his brother's return. His goggle eyes
appeared like terrible flames of fire. His counten-
ance was grim and ugly, his cheeks being like a
couple of large fat flitches of bacon. Moreover, the
bristles of his beard seemed to resemble rods of iron
wire. His locks hung down upon his broad
shoulders, like curled snakes or hissing adders.
Jack alighted from his horse and put him into a
thicket, then, with his coat of darkness, he came some-
what nearer to behold this figure, and said softly —
" Oh ! are you there 1 It will be not long e'er I
shall take you by the beard."
The giant all this time could not see him by
reason of his invisible coat. So, coming up close
to him, valiant Jack, fetching a blow at his head
with his sword of sharpness, and missing something
of his arm, cut off" the giant's nose. The pain was
terrible, and so he put up his hands to feel for his
nose, and when he could not find it, he raved and
roared louder than claps of thunder. Though he
turned up his large eyes, he could not sec from
whence the blow came which had done him that
great disaster, yet, nevertheless, he took up his iron-
knotted club, and began to lay about him like one
that was stark staring mad.
" Nay," quoth Jack, " if you are for that sport,
then I will despatch you quickly, for I fear an
accidental blow should fall on me."
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 73
Then, as the giant rose from his block, Jack
makes no more to do but runs the sword up to the
hilt in his body, Avhere he left it sticking for a while,
and stood himself laughing, with his hands akimbo,
to see the giant caper and dance, crying out.
The giant continued raving for an hour or more,
and at length fell down dead, whose dreadful fall
had like to have crushed poor Jack had he not been
nimble to avoid the same.
This being done, Jack cut off both the giants'
heads and sent them to King Arthur by a wagoner
whom he hired for the purpose, together with an
account of his prosperous success in all his under-
takings.
Jack, having thus despatched these monsters, re-
solved with himself to enter the cave in search of
these giants' treasure. He passed along through
many turnings and windings, which led him at
length to a room paved with free-stone, at the
upper end of which was a boiling cauldron. On
the right hand stood a large table where, as he
supposed, the giants used to dine. He came to an
iron gate where Avas a window secured with bars of
iron, through which he looked, and there beheld a
vast many miserable captives, who, seeing Jack at
a distance, cried out with a loud voice —
" Alas ! young man, art thou come to be one
amongst us in this miserable den 1 "
" Ay," quoth Jack, " I hope I shall not tarry
74 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
long here ; but pray tell me what is the meaning of
your captivity 1 "
" Why," said one young man, " I 'II tell you. We
are persons that have been taken by the giants that
keep this cave, and here we are kept till such time
as they have occasion for a particular feast, and
then the fattest amongst us is slaughtered and pre-
pared for their devouring jaws. It is not long
since they took three for the same purpose."
" Say you so," quoth Jack ; " well, I have given
them both such a dinner that it will be long enough
e'er they '11 have occasion for any more."
The miserable captives were amazed at his words.
" You may believe me," quoth Jack, " for I have
slain them with the point of my sword, and as for
their monstrous heads, I sent them in a wagon to
the court of King Arthur as trophies of my un-
paralleled victory."
For a testimony of the truth he had said, he un-
locked the iron gate, setting the miserable captives
at liberty, who all rejoiced like condemned male-
factors at the sight of a reprieve. Then, leading
them all together to the aforesaid room, he placed
them round the table, and set before them two
quarters of beef, as also bread and wine, so that
he feasted them very plentifully. Supper being
ended, they searched the giants' coffers, where, find-
ing a vast store of gold and silver, Jack equally
divided it among them. They all returned him
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 75
hearty thanks for their treasure and miraculous
deliverance. That night they went to their rest,
and in the morning they arose and departed — the
captives to their respectiA'^e towns and places of
abode, and Jack to the house of the knight whom
he had formerly delivered from the hand of the
giant.
It was about sun-rising when Jack mounted his
horse to proceed on his journey, and by the help of
his directions he came to the knight's house some
time before noon, Avhere he was received with all
demonstrations of joy imaginable by the knight and
his lady, who, in honourable respect to Jack, pre-
pared a feast, which lasted for many days, inviting
all the gentry in the adjacent parts, to whom the
worthy knight was pleased to relate the manner of
his former danger and the happy deliverance by the
undaunted courage of Jack the Giant Killer. By
way of gratitude he presented Jack with a ring of
gold, on which was engraved, by curious art, the
picture of the giant dragging a distressed knight
and his fair lady by the hair of the head, with this
motto —
" We are in sad distress, you see,
Under a giant's fierce command ;
But gained our lives and liberty
By valiant Jack's victorious hand.
Now, among the vast assembly there present were
five aged gentlemen who were fathers to some of
76 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
those miserable captives which Jack had lately set
at liberty, who, understanding that he was the person
that performed those great wonders, immediately
paid their venerable respects. After this their mirth
increased, and the smiling bowls went freely round
to the prosperous success of the victorious conqueror,
but, in the midst of all this mirth, a dark cloud
appeared which daunted all the hearts of the
honourable assembly.
Thus it was. A messenger brought the dismal
tidings of the approach of one Thunderdel, a huge
giant with two heads, who, having heard of the
death of his kinsmen, the above-named giants, was
come from the northern dales in search of Jack to
be revenged of him for their most miserable down-
fall. He was now within a mile of the knight's
seat, the country people flying before him from their
houses and habitations, like chaff before the wind.
When they had related this, Jack, not a whit
daunted, said —
" Let him come. I am prepared with a tool to
pick his teeth. And you, gentlemen and ladies,
walk but forth into the garden, and you shall be
the joyful spectators of this monstrous giant's death
and destruction."
To which they consented, every one wishing him
good fortune in that great and dangerous enterprise.
The situation of this knight's house take as follows :
It was placed in the midst of a small island, encom-
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 77
passed round with a vast moat, thirty feet deep and
twenty feet wide, over which lay a drawbridge.
Jack employed two men to cut this last on both
sides, almost to the middle, and then, dressing him-
self in his coat of darkness, likewise putting on
his shoes of swiftness, he marches forth against the
giant, with his sword of sharpness ready drawn.
When he came up to him, yet the giant could not
see Jack, by reason of his invisible coat which he
had on. Yet, nevertheless, he was sensible of some
approaching danger, which made him cry out in
these following words —
" Fe, fi, fo, fum !
I smell the blood of an Englishman ;
Be he alive or be he dead
I '11 grind his bones to make me bread."
" Sayest thou so 1 " quoth Jack, " then thou art a
monstrous miller indeed. But what if I serve thee
as I did the two giants of late 1 On my conscience,
I should spoil your practice for the future,"
At which time the giant spoke, in a voice as loud
as thunder —
" Art thou that villain which destroyed my kins-
men 1 Then will I tear thee with my teeth, and,
what is more, I will grind thy bones to powder."
" You will catch me first, sir," quoth Jack, and
with that he threw off his coat of darkness that the
giant might see him clearly, and then ran from him,
as if through fear. The giant, with foaming mouth
78 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
and glaring eyes, followed after, like a walking castle,
making the foundation of the earth, as it were, to
shake at every step. Jack led him a dance three
or four times round the moat belonging to the
knight's house, that the gentlemen and ladies might
take a full view of this huge monster of nature, who
followed Jack with all his might, but could not
overtake him by reason of his shoes of swiftness,
which carried him faster than the giant could
follow. At last Jack, to finish the work, took over
the bridge, the giant with full speed pursuing after
him, with his iron club upon his shoulder, but,
. coming to the middle of the draAvbridge, what with
the weight of his body and the most dreadful steps
that he took, it broke down, and he tumbled full
into the water, where he rolled and wallowed like
a whale. Jack, standing at the side of the moat,
laughed at the giant and said —
"You told me you would grind my bones to
powder. Here you have water enough. Pray,
where is your mill 1 "
The giant fretted and foamed to hear him scoff
at that rate, and though he plunged from place to
place in the moat, yet he could not get out to be
avenged on his adversary. Jack at length got a
cast rope and cast it over the giant's two heads with
a slip-knot, and, by the help of a train of horses,
dragged him out again, with which the giant was
near strangled, and before Jack would let him loose
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 79
he cut off both his heads with his sword of sharp-
ness, in the full view of all the worthy assembly of
knights, gentlemen, and ladies, who gave a joyful
shout when they saw the giant fairly despatched.
Then, before he would either <eat or drink, Jack
sent the heads also, after the others, to the court of
King Arthur, which being done, he, with the knights
and ladies, returned to their mirth and pastime,
which lasted for many days.
After some time spent in triumphant mirth and
pastime. Jack grew weary of riotous living, where-
fore, taking leave of the noble knights and ladies,
he set forward in search of new adventures.
Through many woods and groves he passed, meeting
with nothing remarkable, till at length, coming near
the foot of a high mountain, late at night, he knocked
at the door of a lonesome house, at which time an
ancient man, with a head as white as snow, arose
and let him in.
"Father," said Jack, "have you any entertain-
ment for a benighted traveller that has lost his
way 1 "
" Yes," said the old man, " if you will accept of
such accommodation as my poor cottage will afford,
thou shalt be right welcome."
Jack returned him many thanks for his great
civility, wherefore down they sat together, and the
old man began to discourse him as follows —
" Son," said he, " I am sensible thou art the great
80 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
conqueror of giants, and it is in thy power to free
this part of the country from an intolerable burden
which we groan under. For, behold ! my son, on
the top of this high mountain there is an enchanted
castle kept by a huge monstrous giant named Galli-
gantus, who, by the help of an old conjuror, betrays
many knights and ladies into this strong castle,
wbere, by magic art, they are transformed into
sundry shapes and forms. But, above all, I lament
the fate of a duke's daughter, whom they snatched
from her father's garden by magic art, carrying her
through the air in a mourning chariot drawn, as it
were, by two fiery dragons, and, being secured
within the walls of the castle, she was immediately
transformed into the real shape of a white hind,
where she miserably moans her misfortune. Though
many worthy knights have endeavoured to break
the enchantment and work her deliverance, yet
none of them could accomplish this great work, by
reason of two dreadful griffins who were fixed by
magic art at the entrance of the castle gate, which
destroy any as soon as they see them. You, my
son, being furnished with an invisible coat, may
pass by them undiscovered, and on the brazen gates
of the castle you will find engraved in large char-
acters by what means the enchantment may be
broken."
The old man having ended his discourse, Jack
gave him his hand, with a faithful promise that in
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 81
the morning he would venture his life to break the
enchantment and free the lady, together with the
rest that were miserable partners in her calamity.
Having refreshed themselves with a small morsel
of meat, they laid them down to rest, and in the
morning Jack arose and put on his invisible coat,
cap of knowledge, and shoes of swiftness, and so
prepares himself for the dangerous enterprises.
Now, when he had ascended to the top of the
mountain, he soon discovered the two fiery griffins.
He passed on between them without fear, for they
could not see him by reason of his invisible coat.
Now, when he was got beyond them, he cast his eyes
around him, where he found upon the gates a golden
trumpet, hung in a chain of fine silver, under which
these lines were engraved —
" Whosoever shall this trumpet blow
Shall soon the giant overthrow,
And break the black enchantment straight,
So all shall be in happy state."
Jack had no sooner read this inscription but he
blew the trumpet, at which time the vast founda-
tion of the castle tumbled, and the giant, together
with the conjuror, was in horrid confusion, biting
their thumbs and tearing their hair, knowing their
wicked reign was at an end. At that time Jack,
standing at the giant's elbow, as he was stooping to
take up his club, at one blow, with his sword of
English. F
82 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
sharpness, cut off his head. The conjuror, seeing
this, immediately mounted into the air and was
carried away in a whirlwind. Thus was the whole
enchantment broken, and every knight and lady, that
had been for a long time transformed into birds and
beasts, returned to their proper shapes and likeness
again. As for the castle, though it seemed at first
to be of vast strength and bigness, it vanished in
a cloud of smoke, whereupon an universal joy
appeared among the released knights and ladies.
This being done, the head of Galligantus was like-
wise, according to the accustomed manner, conveyed
to the court of King Arthur, as a present made to
his majesty. The very next daj^ after having re-
freshed the knights and ladies at the old man's
habitation (who lived at the foot of the mountain).
Jack set forward for the court of King Arthur, with
those knights and ladies he had so honourably
delivered.
Coming to his majesty, and having related all the
passages of his fierce encounters, his fame rang
though the whole court, and, as a reward for his
good services, the king prevailed with the aforesaid
duke to bestow his daughter in marriage to honest
Jack, protesting that there was no man so worthy
of her as he, to all which the duke very honourably
consented. So married they were, and not only the
court, but likewise the kingdom were filled with joy
and triumph at the wedding. After which the king.
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE GIANTS. 83
as a reward for all his good services done for the
nation, bestowed upon him a noble habitation with
a plentiful estate thereto belonging, where he and
his lady lived the residue of their days in great joy
and happiness.
THE FAIRIES' CUP.
''In the province of the Deiri (Yorkshire), not
far from my birthplace," says William of Newbury,
" a wonderful thing occurred, which I have known
from my boyhood. There is a town a few miles
distant from the Eastern Sea, near which are those
celebrated waters commonly called Gipse. ... A
peasant of this town went once to see a friend who
lived in the next town, and it was late at night
when he was coming back, not very sober, when,
lo ! from the adjoining barrow, which I have often
seen, and which is not much over a quarter of a
mile from the town, he heard the voices of people
singing, and, as it were, joyfully feasting. He
wondered who they could be that were breaking in
that place, by their merriment, the silence of the
dead night, and he wished to examine into the matter
more closely. Seeing a door open in the side of
the barrow he went up to it and looked in, and
there he beheld a large and luminous house, full of
people, women as well as men, who were reclining
as at a solemn banquet. One of the attendants,
seeing him standing at the door, offered him a cup.
84
THE fairies' cup. 85
He took it, but would not drink, and pouring out
the .'contents, kept the vessel. A great tumuh arose
at the banquet on account of his taking away the
cup, and all the guests pursued him, but he escaped
by the fleetness of the beast he rode, and got into
the town with his booty.
" Finally this vessel of unknown material, of un-
usual colour, and of extraordinary form, was pre-
sented to Henry the Elder, King of the English,
as a valuable gift ; was then given to the Queen's
brother, David, King of the Scots, and was kept
for several years in the treasury of Scotland. A few
years ago, as I have heard from good authority, it
was given by William, King of the Scots, to Henry
the Second, who wished to see it."
THE WHITE LADY
There was once on a time an old woman who lived
near Heathfield, in Devonshire. She made a slight
mistake, I do not know how, and got up at mid-
night, thinking it to be morning. This good woman
mounted her horse, and set off, panniers, cloak, and
all, on her way to market. Anon she heard a cry
of hounds, and soon perceived a hare making rapidly
towards her. The hare, however, took a turn and a
leap and got on the top of the hedge, as if it would
say to the old woman " Come, catch me." She liked
such hunting as this very well, put forth her hand,
secured the game, popped it into one of the panniers,
covered it over, and rode forward. She had not
gone far, when great was her alarm at perceiving on
the dismal and solitary waste of Heathfield, advanc-
ing at full pace, a headless horse, bearing a black
and grim rider, with horns sprouting from under a
little jockey-cap, and having a cloven foot thrust
into one stirrup. He was surrounded by a pack of
hounds which had tails that whisked about and
shone like fire, while the air itself had a strong
sulphurous scent. These were signs not to be mis-
8C
THE WHITE LADY. 87
taken, and the poor old woman knew in a moment
that huntsman and hounds were taking a ride from
the regions below. It soon, however, appeared that
however clever the rider might be, he was no con-
juror, for he very civilly asked the old woman if she
could set him right, and point out which way the
hare was flown. The old woman probably thought
it was no harm to pay the father of lies in his own
coin, so she boldly gave him a negative, and he rode
on, not suspecting the cheat. When he was out of
sight the old woman perceived the hare in the
pannier began to move, and at length, to her great
amazement, it changed into a beautiful young lady,
all in white, who thus addressed her preserver —
" Good dame, I admire your courage, and I thank
you for the kindness with which you have saved me
from a state of suff"ering that must not be told to
human ears. Do not start when I tell you that I
am not an inhabitant of the earth. For a great
crime committed during the time I dwelt upon it, I
was doomed, as a punishment in the other world, to
be constantly pursued either above or below ground
by evil spirits, until I could get behind their tails
whilst they passed on in search of me. This diffi-
cult object, by your means, I have now happily
eff"ected, and, as a reward for your kindness, I
promise that all your hens shall lay two eggs instead
of one, and that your cows shall yield the most
plentiful store of milk all the year round, that you
88 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
shall talk twice as much as you ever did before, and
your husband stand no chance in any matter be-
tween you to be settled by the tongue. But
beware of the devil, and don't grumble about tithes,
for my enemy and yours may do you an ill-turn
when he finds out you were clever enough to cheat
even him, since, like all great impostors, he does not
like to be cheated himself. He can assume all shapes,
except those of the lamb and dove."
The lady in white then vanished. The old
woman found the best possible luck that morning
in her traffic. And to this day the story goes in the
town, that from the Saviour of the world having
hallowed the form of the lamb, and the Holy Ghost
that of the dove, they can never be assumed by the
mortal enemy of the human race under any circum-
stances.
A PLEASANT AND DELIGHTFUL HISTORY
OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT.
I.
[From a Chap-book, printed at Whitehaven by Ann Dunn,
Market Place. Probable date 17S0.]
In the reign before William the Conqueror, I have
read in an ancient history that there dwelt a man
in the parish of the Isle of Ely, in the county of
Cambridge, whose name was Thomas Hickathrift —
a poor man and a day-labourer, yet he was a very
stout man, and able to perform two days' work
instead of one. He having one son and no more
children in the world, he called him by his own
name, Thomas Hickathrift. This old man put his
son to good learning, but he would take none, for
he was, as we call them in this age, none of the
wisest sort, but something less, and had no docility
at all in him.
His father being soon called out of the world, his
mother was tender of him, and maintained him by
her hand labour as well as she could, he being sloth-
89
90 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
ful aud not willing to work to get a penny for his
living, but all his delight was to be in the chimney-
corner, and he would eat as much at one time as
would serve four or five men. He was in height,
when he was but ten years of age, about eight feet ;
and in thickness, five feet; and his hand was like
unto a shoulder of mutton ; and in all his parts, from
top to toe, he was like unto a monster, aud yet his
great strength was not known.
The first time that his strength was known was
by his mother's going to a rich farmer's house (she
being but a poor woman) to desire a bottle of straw
for herself and her son Thomas. The farmer, being
a very honest, charitable man, bid her take what she
would. She going home to her son Tom, said —
" I pray, go to such a place and fetch me a bottle
of straw ; I have asked him leave."
He swore he would not go.
" Nay, prithee, Tom, go," said his mother.
He swore again he would not go unless she would
borrow him a cart-rope. She, being willing to
please him, because she would have some straw, went
and borrowed him a cart-rope to his desire.
He, taking it, went his way. Coming to the
farmer's house, the master was in the barn, aud two
men a-thrashing. Said Tom —
" I am come for a bottle of straw."
" Tom," said the master, " take as much as thou
canst carry."
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 91
He laid down the cart-rope and began to make
his bottle. Said they —
" Tom, thy rope is too short," and jeered poor
Tom, but he fitted the man well for it, for he made
his bottle, and when he had finished it, there was
supposed to be a load of straw in it of two thousand
pounds weight. Said they —
" What a great fool art thou. Thou canst not
carry the tenth of it."
Tom took the bottle, and flung it over his
shoulder, and made no more of it than we would do
of a hundredweight, to the great admiration of
master and man.
Tom Hickathrift's strength being then known in
the town they would no longer let him lie baking
by the fire in the chimney-corner. Every one would
be hiring him for work. They seeing him to have
so much strength told him that it was a shame for
him to live such a lazy course of life, and to be idle
day after day, as he did.
Tom seeing them bate him in such a manner as
they did, went first to one work and then to another,
but at length came to a man who would hire him to
go to the wood, for he had a tree to bring home, and
he would content him. Tom went with him, and
took with him four men besides ; but when they
came to the wood they set the cart to the tree, and
began to draw it up with pulleys. Tom seeing
them not able to stir it, said —
92 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
" Stand away, ye fools!" then takes it up and sets
it on one end and lays it in the cart.
" Now," says he, " see what a man can do ! "
" Marry, it is true," said they.
When they had done, as they came through
the wood, they met the woodman. Tom asked
him for a stick to make his mother a fire Avith.
" Ay," says the woodman. " Take one that thou
canst carry."
Tom espied a tree bigger than that one that was
in the cart, and lays it on his shoulder, and goes
home with it as fast as the cart and the six horses
could draw it. This was the second time that Tom's
strength was known.
When Tom began to know that he had more
strength than twenty men, he then began to be
merry and very tractable, and would run or jump ;
took great delight to be amongst company, and to
go to fairs and meetings, to see sports and pas-
times.
Going to a feast, the young men were all met,
some to cudgels, some to wrestling, some throwing
the hammer, and the like. Tom stood a little to
see the sport, and at last goes to them that were
throwing the hammer. Standing a little to see their
manlike sport, at last he takes the hammer in his
hand, to feel the weight of it, and bid them stand
out of the way, for he would throw it as far as he
could.
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 93
"Ay," said the smith, and jeered poor Tom,
" You '11 throw it a great way, I '11 av arrant you,"
Tom took the hammer in his hand and flung it.
And there was a river about five or six furlongs ofiP,
and he flung it into that. When he had done, he
bid the smith fetch the hammer, and laughed the
smith to scorn.
When Tom had done this exploit he would go to
wrestling, though he had no more skill of it than an
ass but what he did by strength, yet he flung all
that came to oppose him, for if he once laid hold of
them they were gone. Some he would throw over
his head, some he would lay down slyly and how he
pleased. He would not like to strike at their heels,
but flung them two or three yards from him, ready
to break their necks asunder. So that none at last
durst go into the ring to wrestle with him, for they
took him to be some devil that was come amons
them. So Tom's fame spread more and more in the
country.
Tom's fame being spread abroad both far and
near, there was not a man durst give him an angry
word, for he was something fool-hardy, and did not
care what he did unto them, so that all they that
knew him would not in the least displease him. At
length there was a brewer at Lynn that wanted a
good lusty man to carry his beer to the Marsh and
to Wisbeach, hearing of Tom, went to hire him, but
Tom seemed coy, and would not be his man until his
94 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
mother and friends persuaded him, and his master
entreated him. He likewise promised him that he
should have a new suit of clothes and everything
answerable from top to toe, besides he should eat of
the best. Tom at last yielded to be his man, and
his master told him how far he must go, for you
must understand there was a monstrous giant kept
some part of the Marsh, and none durst go that way,
for if they did he would keep them or kill them, or
else he would make bond slaves of them.
But to come to Tom and his master. He did
more work in one day than all his men could do in
three, so that his master, seeing him very tractable,
and to look well after his business, made him his
head man to go into the Marsh to carry beer by
himself, for he needed no man with him. Tom went
every day in the week to Wisbeach, which was a
very good journey, and it was twenty miles the road-
way.
Tom — going so long that wearisome journey; and
finding that way the giant kept was nearer by half,
and Tom having now got much more strength than
before by being so well kept and drinking so much
strong ale as he did — one day as he was going to
Wisbeach, and not saying anything to his master or
to any of his fellow-servants, he was resolved 'to
make the nearest way to the wood or lose his life,
to win the horse or lose the saddle, to kill or be
killed, if he met with the giant. And with this
A PLEASANT HISTORY Of THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 95
resolution he goes the nearest way with his cart and
horses to go to Wisbeach ; but the giant, perceiving
him, and seeing him to be bold, thought to prevent
him, and came, intending to take his cart for a prize,
but he cared not a bit for him.
The giant met Tom like a lion, as though he
would have swallowed him up at a mouthful.
"Sirrah," said he, "who gave you authority to
come this way 1 Do you not know I make all stand
in fear of my sight, and you, like an impudent rogue,
must come and fling my gates open at your pleasure?
How dare you presume to do this? Are you so
careless of your life ? I will make thee an example
for all rogues under the sun. Dost thou not care
what thou dost 1 Do you see how many heads hang
upon yonder tree that have off"ended my law?
Thy head shall hang higher than all the rest for an
example ! "
Tom made him answer —
"A fig for your news, for you shall not find me
like one of them."
" No ? " said the giant. " Why ? Thou art but a
fool if thou comest to fight with such a one as I am,
and bring no weapon to defend thyself withal."
Said Tom —
" I have a weapon here will make you understand
you are a traitorly rogue."
" Ay, sirrah," said the giant ; and took that word
in high disdain that Tom should call him a traitorly
96 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
might become the mansion of a great feudal lord or
prince.
Thirty carcasses of deer were lying on the massive
kitchen board, under the hands of numerous cooks,
who toiled to cut them up and dress them, while
the gigantic greyhounds which had taken the spoil
lay lapping the blood, and enjoying the sight of the
slain game. They came next to the royal hall,
where the king received his loving consort ; knights
and ladies, dancing by threes, occupied the floor of
the hall; and Thomas, the fatigue of his journey
from the Eildon Hills forgotten, went forward and
joined in the revelry. After a period, however,
which seemed to him a very short one, the queen
spoke with him apart, and bade him prepare to
return to his own country.
" Now," said the queen, " how long think you that
you have been here 1 "
" Certes, fair lady," answered Thomas, " not above
these seven days."
"You are deceived," answered the queen; "you
have been seven years in this castle, and it is full
time you were gone. Know, Thomas, that the
archfiend will come to this castle to-morrow to de-
mand his tribute, and so handsome a man as yo^.
will attract his eye. For all the world would I not
suffer you to be betrayed to such a fate ; therefore
up, and let us be going."
This terrible news reconciled Thomas to his do-
THOMAS THE RHYMER. 97
parture from Elfinlaud ; and the queen was not
long in placing him upon Huntly Bank, where the
birds were singing. She took leave of him, and to
ensure his reputation bestowed on him the tongue
which could not lie. Thomas in vain objected to this
inconvenient and involuntary adhesion to veracity,
which would make him, as he thought, unfit for
church or for market, for king's court or for lady's
bower. But all his remonstrances were disregarded
by the lady; and Thomas the Ehymer, whenever
the discourse turned on the future, gained the credit
of a prophet whether he would or not, for he could
say nothing but what was sure to come to pass.
Thomas remained several years in his own tower
near Ercildouu, and enjoyed the fame of his pre-
dictions, several of which are current among the
country people to this day. At length, as the
prophet was entertaining the Earl of March in his
dwelling, a cry of astonishment arose in the village,
on the appearance of a hart and hind, which left
the forest, and, contrary to their shy nature, came
quietly onward, traversing the village towards the
dwelling of Thomas. The prophet instantly rose
from the board, and acknowledging the prodigy as
-* the summons of his fate, he accompanied the hart
and hind into the forest, and though occasionally
X seen by individuals to whom he has chosen to snow
himself, he has never again mixed familiarly with
mankind.
Scotch. p
98 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
he put his cart together again, loaded it, and drove
it to Wisbeach and delivered his beer, and, coming
home to his master, he told it to him. His master
was so overjoyed at the new^s that he would not be-
lieve him till he had seen ; and, getting up the next
day, he and his master went to see if he spoke the
truth or not, together with most of the town of
Lynn. When they came to the place and found the
giant dead, he then showed the place where the
head was, and what silver and gold there was in the
cave. All of them leaped for joy, for this monster
was a great enemy to all the country.
This news was spread all up and down the country,
how Tom Hickathrift had killed the giant, and well
was he that could run or go to see the giant and his
cave. Then all the folks made bonfires for joy, and
Tom was a better respected man than before.
Tom took possession of the giant's cave by con-
sent of the whole country, and every one said he
deserved twice as much more. Tom pulled down
the cave and built him a fine house where the cave
stood, and in the ground that the giant kept by force
and strength, some of which he gave to the poor for
their common, the rest he made pastures of, and
divided the most part into tillage to maintain him
and his mother, Jane Hickathrift.
Tom's fame was spread both far and near through-
out the country, and it was no longer Tom but
Mr. Hickathrift, so that he was now the chiefest
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 99
man among them, for the people feared Tom's
anger as much as they did the giant before. Tom
kept men and maid servants, and lived most bravely.
He made a park to keep deer in. Near to his
house he built a church and gave it the name of
St. James's Church, because he killed the giant on
that day, which is so called to this hour. He did
many good deeds, and became a public benefactor
to all persons that lived near him.
Tom having got so much money about him, and
being not used to it, could hardly tell how to
dispose of it, but yet he did use the means to do it,
for he kept a pack of hounds and men to hunt with
him, and who but Tom then? So he took such
delight in sports that he would go far and near to
any meetings, as cudgel-play, bear baiting, football,
and the like.
Now as Tom was riding one day, he alighted off
his horse to see that sport, for they were playing for
a wager. Tom was a stranger, and none did know
him there. But Tom spoiled their sport, for he,
meeting the football, took it such a kick, that they
never found their ball more. They could see it fly,
but whither none could tell. They all wondered at
it, and began to quarrel with Tom, but some of
them got nothing by it, for Tom gets a great spar
which belonged to a house that was blown down,
and all that stood in his way he knocked down, so
that all the county was up in arms to take Tom,
100 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
but all in Vcain, for he manfully made way wherever
he came.
When he was gone from them, and returning
homewards, he chanced to be somewhat late in the
evening on the road. There met him four stout,
lusty rogues that had been robbing passengers that
way, and none could escape them, for they robbed all
they met, both rich and poor. They thought Avhen
they met with Tom he would be a good prize for
them, and, perceiving he was alone made cock-sure
of his money, but they were mistaken, for he got a
prize by them. Whereupon, meeting him, they bid
him stand and deliver.
" What," said Tom, " shall I deliver ] "
" Your money, sirrah," said they.
" But," said Tom, " you will give me better
words for it, and you must be better armed."
" Come, come," said they, " we do not come here
to parley, but we come for money, and money we
will have before we stir from this place."
" Ay ! " said Tom. " Is it so 'I Then get it and
take it."
So then one of them made at him, but he presently
unarmed him and took away his sword, which was
made of good trusty steel, and smote so hard at the
others that they began to put spurs to their horses
and be-gone. But he soon stayed their journey, for
one of them having a portmanteau behind him, Tom,
supposing there was money in it, fougiit with a great
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 101
deal of more courage than before, till at last he killed
two of the four, and the other two he wounded very-
sore so that they cried out for quarter. With much
ado he gave them their lives, but took all their
money, which was about two lumdred pounds, to
bear his expenses home. Now when Tom came
home he told tliem how he had served the football-
players and the four highwaymen, which caused a
laughter from his old mother. Then, refreshing
himself, he went to see how all things were, and
what his men had done since he went from home.
, Then going into his forest, he walked up and
down, and at last met with a lusty tinker that had a
good staff on his shoulder, and a great dog to carry
his leather bag and tools of work. Tom asked the
tinker from whence he came, and whither he was
going, for that was no highway. The tinker, being
a sturdy fellow, bid him go look, and what was that
to him, for fools would be meddling.
" No," says Tom, " but I '11 make you know, before
you and I part, it is me."
"Ay!" said the tinker, "I have been this three
long years, and have had no combat with any man,
and none durst make me an answer. I think they
be all cowards in this country, except it be a man
who is called Thomas Hickathrift who killed a
giant. Him I would fain see to have one combat
with him."
" Ay ! " said Tom, " but, methinks, I might be
102 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
master in your month. I am the man : what have
you to say to me 1 "
" Why," said the tinker, " verily, I am glad we
have met so happily together, that Ave may have
one single combat."
" Sure," said Tom, " you do but jest 1 "
" Marry," said the tinker, " I am in earnest."
"A match," said Tom. " Will you give me leave
to get a twig 1 "
" Ay," says the tinker. " Hang him that will
fight a man unarmed. I scorn that."
Tom steps to the gate, and takes one of the rails
for his staff. So they fell to work. The tinker at
Tom and Tom at the tinker, like unto two giants,
they laid one at the other. The tinker had on a
leathern coat, and at every blow Tom gave the
tinker his coat cracked again, yet the tinker did not
give way to Tom an inch, but Tom gave the tinker
a blow on the side of the head which felled the
tinker to the ground.
" Now, tinker, where are you ? " said Tom.
But the tinker, being a man of metal, leaped up
again, and gave Tom a blow which made him reel
again, and followed his blows, and then took Tom on
the other side, whicn made Tom's neck crack again.
Tom flung down the weapon, and yielded the tinker
to be the best man, and took him home to his house,
where I shall leave Tom and the tinker to be
recovered of their many wounds and bruises, which
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 103
relation is more enlarged as you may read in the
second part of Thomas Hickathrift.
II.
[From a Chap-book. The book beai's no date or note as
to where or by whom it was printed. It was probably
printed at London about the year 1780.]
In and about the Isle of Ely many disaffected
persons, to the number of ten thousand and upwards,
drew themselves up in a body, presuming to contend
for their pretended ancient rights and liberties,
insomuch that the gentry and civil magistrates of
the country were in great danger, at which time the
sheriff, by night, privately got into the house of
Thomas Hickathrift as a secure place of refuge in so
imminent a time of danger, where before Thomas
Hickathrift he laid open the villainous intent of
this headstrong, giddy-brained multitude.
"Mr. Sheriff," quoth Tom, "what service my
brother " (meaning the tinker) " and I can perform
shall not be wanting."
This said, in the morning by daybreak, with
trusty clubs, they both went forth, desiring the
Sheriff to be their guide in conducting them to the
place of the rebels' rendezvous. When they came
there, Tom and the tinker marched up to the head of
104 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
the multitude, and demanded of them the reason
why they disturbed the government, to which they
answered with a loud cry —
" Our will 's our law, and by that alone we will
be governed."
"Nay," quoth Tom, "if it be so, these trusty
clubs are our weapons, and by them you shall be
chastised," which Avords were no sooner out of his
mouth than the tinker and he put themselves both
together in the midst of the throng, and with their
clubs beat the multitude down, trampling them
under their feet. Every blow which they struck
laid twenty or thirty before them, nay — remarkable
it was, the tinker struck a tall man, just upon the
nape of the neck, with that force that his head flew
off and was carried violently fourteen feet from him,
where it knocked down one of their chief ring-
leaders,— Tom, on the other hand, still pressing
forward, till by an unfortunate blow he broke his
club. Yet he was not in the least dismayed, for he
presently seized upon a lusty, stout, raw-boned
miller, and made use of him for a weapon, till at
length they cleared the field, so that there Avas not
found one that dare lift up a hand against them,
havino; run to holes and corners to hide themselves.
Shortly after some of their heads were taken and
made public examples of justice, the rest being
pardoned at the humble request of Thomas Hicka-
thrift and the tinker.
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 105
The king, being truly informed of the faithful
services performed by these his loving subjects,
Thomas Hickathrift and the tinker, he was pleased
to send for them to his palace, where a royal banquet
was prepared for their entertainment, most of the
nobility being present. Now after the banquet was
over, the king said unto all that were there —
" These are my trusty and well-beloved subjects,
meu of approved courage and valour. They are the
men that overcam.e and conquered ten thousand,
which were got together to disturb the peace of my
realm. According to the character that hath been
given to Thomas Hickathrift and Henry Nonsuch,
persons here present, they cannot be matched in any
other kingdom in the world. Were it jjossible to
have an army of twenty thousand such as these, I
dare venture to act the part of Alexander the Great
over again, yet, in the meanwhile, as a proof of
my royal favour, kneel down and receive the ancient
order of knighthood, Mr. Hickathrift," which was
instantly performed.
"And as for Henry Nonsuch, I will settle upon
him, as a reward for his great service, the sum of
forty shillings a year, during life," Avhich said, the
king withdrew, and Sir Thomas Hickathrift and
Henry Nonsuch, the tinker, returned home, attended
by many persons of quality some miles from the
court. But, to the great grief of Sir Thomas, at
his return from the court, he found his aged mother
106 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
drawing to her end, who, in a few days after, died,
and was buried in the Isle of Ely.
Tom's mother being dead, and he left alone in a
large and spacious house, he found himself strange
and uncouth, therefore he began to consider with
himself that it would not be amiss to seek out for a
wife. Hearing of a young rich widow, not far from
Cambridge, to her he went and made his addresses,
and, at the first coming, she seemed to show him much
favour and countenance, but between this and his
coming again she had given some entertainment to
a more genteel and airy spai'k, who happened like-
wise to come while honest Tom Avas there the second
time. He looked wistfully at Tom, and he stared
as wistfully at him again. At last the young spark
began with abuseful language to affront Tom, telling
him that he was a great lubberly whelp, adding that
such a one as he should not pretend to make love
to a lady, as he was but a brewer's servant.
" Scoundrel ! " quoth Tom, " better words should
become you, and if you do not mend your manners
you shall not fail to feel my sharp correction,"
At which the young spark challenged him forth
into the back-yard, for, as he said, he did not question
but to make a fool of Tom in a trice. Into the yard
they both walk together, the young spark with a
naked sword, and Tom with neither stick nor staff
in his hand nor any other weapon.
" What ! " says the spark, " have you nothing to
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHUIFT. 107
defend yourself? Well, T shall tlie sooner despatch
you." _ "
Which said, he ran furiously forward, making a
pass at Tom, which he put by, and then, wheeling
round, Tom gave him such a swinging kick as
sent the spark, like a crow, up into the air, from
whence he fell upon the ridge of a thatched house,
and then came down into a large fish-pond, and had
been certainly drowned if it had not been for a poor
shepherd who was walking that way, and, seeing him
float upon the water, dragged him out with his hook,
and home he ran, like a drowned rat, while Tom
returned to the lady.
This young gallant being tormented in his mind
to think how Tom had conquered and shamed him
before his mistress, he was now resolved for speedy
revenge, and knowing that he was not able to cope
with a man of Tom's strength and activity, he,
therefore, hired two lusty troopers to lie in ambush
in a thicket which Tom was to pass through from
his home to the young lady. Accordingly they
attempted to set upon him.
" How, now," quoth Tom, " rascals, what would
you be af? Are you, indeed, weary of the world
that you so unadvisedly set upon one who is able to
crush you in like a cucumber ? "
The troopers, laughing at him, said that they were
not to be daunted at his high words.
" High words," quoth Tom. " No, I will come to
108 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
action," and with that he ran in between these
armed troopers, catching them under his arm, horse
and men, with as much ease as if they had been but
a couple of baker's babbins, steering his course with
them hastily towards his own home. As he passed
through a meadow, in which there were many
haymakers at work, the poor distressed troopers
cried out —
" Stop him ! stop him ! He runs away with two
of the king's troopers."
The haymakers laughed heartily to see how Tom
hugged them along. Ever and anon he upbraided-
them for their baseness, and declared that he would
make minced meat of them to feed the crows and
jackdaws about his house and habitation. This was
such a dreadful lecture to them that the poor rogues
begged that he would be merciful and spare their
lives, and they would discover the Avhole plot, and
who was the person that employed them. This
accordingly they did, and gained favour in the sight
of Tom, who pardoned them upon promise that they
would never be concerned in such a villainous action
for the time to come.
In regard Tom had been hindered by these
ti'oopers, he delayed his visit to his lady till the
next day, and then, coming to her, gave her a full
account of what had happened. She was pleased at
heart at this wonderful relation, knowing it was
safe for a woman to marry with a man who was able
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 109
to defend her against all assaults whatsoever, and
such a one she found Tom to be. The day of
marriage was accordingly appointed, and friends
and relations invited, yet secret malice, which is
never satisfied without sweet revenge, had like to
have prevented the solemnity, for, having three
miles to go to church, where they were to be married,
the aforesaid gentleman had provided a second time
llussians in armour, to the number of twenty-one,
he himself being then present, either to destroy the
life of Tom, or put them into strange consternation.
However, thus it happened. In a lonesome place
they rolled out upon them, making their first assault
upon Tom, and, with a spear, gave him a slight
wound, at which his love and the rest of the women
shrieked and cried like persons out of their wits.
Tom endeavoured all that he could to pacify them,
saying —
" Stand you still and I Avill show you pleasant
sport.
With that he caught a back-sword from the side
of a gentleman in his own company, with which he
so bravely behaved himself that at ev-ery stroke he
cut off a joint. Loath he was to touch the life of
any, but, aiming at their legs and arms, he lopped
tliem off so fast that, in less than a quarter of an
hour, there was not one in the company but what had
lost a limb, the green grass being stained with
their purple gore, and the ground strewn with legs
110 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
and arms, as 'tis with tiles from the tops of the
houses after a dreadful storm — his love and the rest
of the company standing all the while as joyful spec-
tators, laughing one at another, saying —
" What a company of cripples has he made, as it
were in the twinkling of an eye ! "
"Yes," quoth Tom, "I believe that for every drop
of blood that I lost, I have made the rascals pay me
a limb as a just tribute."
This done, he stept to a farmer's hard by, and
hired there a servant, giving him tAventy shillings
to carry these cripples home to their respective
habitations in his cart. Then did he hasten with
his love to the church to be married, and then
returned home, where they were heartily merry
with their friends, after their fierce and dreadful
encounter.
Now, Tom being married, he made a plentiful
feast, to which he invited all the poor widows in
four or five parishes, for the sake of his mother,
whom he had lately buried. This feast was kept in
his own house, with all manner of varieties that the
country could afford, for the space of four days, in
honour likcAvise of the four victories which he had
lately obtained. Now, when the time of feasting was
ended, a silver cup was missing, and, being asked
about it, they every one denied they knew anything
about it. At length it was agreed that they should
all stand the search, which they did, and the cup was
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. Ill
found on a certain old woman, named the widow
Stumbelow. Then were all the rest in a rage. Some
were for hanging her, others were for chopping the
old woman in pieces for her ingratitude to such a
generous soul as Sir Thomas Hickathrift, but he
entreated them all to be quiet, saying they should
not murder the old Avoman, for he would appoint a
punishment for her himself, which was this — he
bored a hole through her nose, and, tying a string
therein, then ordered her to be led by the nose
through all the streets and lanes in Cambridge.
The tidings of Tom's wedding were soon noised
in the court, so that the king sent them a royal in-
vitation to the end that he might see his la'dy.
They immediately Avent, and were received with all
demonstrations of joy and triumph, but while they
were in their mirth a dreadful cry approached the
court, which proved to be the commons of Kent who
were come thither to complain of a dreadful giant
that was landed in one of the islands, and brought
with him abundance of bears and young lions, like-
wise a dreadful dragon, on which he himself rode,
which monster and ravenous beasts had frightened
all the inhabitants out of the island. Moreover,
they said, if speedy course was not taken to suppress
them in time, they might overrun the whole island.
The king, hearing this dreadful relation, was a little
startled, yet he persuaded them to return home and
make the best defence they could for themselves at
112 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
present, assuring them that he should not forget
them, and so they departed.
The, king, hearing the aforesaid dreadful tidings,
immediately sat in council to consider what was to
be done for the overcoming this monstrous giant,
and barbarous savage lions and beasts, that with
him had invaded his princely territories. At length
it was agreed upon that Thomas Hickathrift was the
most likely man in the whole kingdom for under-
taking of so dangerous an enterprise, he being not
only a fortunate man of great strength, but like-
wise a true and trusty subject, one that was always
ready and willing to do his king and country service.
For which reason it was thought necessary to make
him governor of the aforesaid island, which place of
trust and honour he readily received, and accord-
ingly he forthwith went down with his wife and
family, attended by a hundred knights and gentle-
men, Avho conducted him to the entrance of the
island which he was to govern. A castle in those
days there was, in which he was to take up his
head- quarters, the same being situated with that
advanta2;e that he could view the island for several
miles upon occasion. The knights and gentlemen,
at last taking their leave of him, wished him all
happy success and prosperity. Many days he had
not been there when it was his fortune to behold
this monstrous giant, mounted upon a dreadful
dragon, bearing upon his shoulder a club of iron,
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 113
having but one eye, the which was placed in his
forehead, and larger in compass than a barber's
basin, and seemed to appear like a flaming fire.
His visage was dreadful, grim and tawny ; the hair
of his head hanging down his back and shoulders
like snakes of a prodigious length ; the bristles of his
beard being like rusty wire. Lifting up his blare
eye, he happened to discover Sir Thomas Hickathrift,
who was looking upon him from one of his Avindows
of the castle. The giant then began to knit his
brow and breathe forth threatening words to the
governor, who, indeed, was a little surprised at the
approach of so monstrous a brute. The giant, find-
ing that Tom did not make much haste down to
meet him, alighted from the back of the dragon, and
chained the same to an oak-tree. Then, marching
furiously to the castle, he set his broad shoulder
against a corner of the stone walls, as if he intended
to overthrow the whole building at once, which Tom
perceiving, said —
"Is this the game you would be at? Faith, I
shall spoil your sport, for I have a delicate tool to
pick your teeth withal."
Then, taking his two-handed sword of five foot
long, a weapon which the king had given him to
govern with, — taking this, I say, down he went, and
flinging open the gates, he there found the giant, who,
by an unfortunate slip in his thrusting, was fallen
all along, where he lay and could not help himself.
English. H
114 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
"What!" quoth Tom, "do you come here to take
up your lodging] This is not to be suffered."
With that he ran his long broad-sword into the
giant's body, which made the monstrous brute give
such a terrible groan that it seemed like roaring
thunder, making the very neighbouring trees to
tremble. Then Tom, pulling out his sword again,
at six or seven blows separated his head from his
unconscionable trunk, which head, when it was off,
seemed like the root of a mighty oak. Then turn-
ing to the dragon, which Avas all this while chained
to a tree, without any further discourse, with four
blows with his two-handed sword, he cut oiF his
head also. This fortunate adventure being over, he
sent immediately for a team of horses and a wagon,
which he loaded with these heads. Then, summon-
ing all the constables in the country for a guard, he
sent them to the court, with a promise to his majesty
that he would rid the whole island likewise of bears
and lions before he left it. Tom's victories rang so
long that they reached the ears of his old acquaint-
ance the tinker, who, desirous of honour, resolved to
go down and visit Tom in his new government.
Coming there, he met with kind and loving enter-
tainment, for they were very joyful to see one
another. Now, after three or four days' enjoyment
of one another's company, Tom told the tinker that
he must needs go forth in search after wild bears
and lions, in order to rout them out of the island.
A PLEASANT HISTORY OF THOMAS HICKATHRIFT. 115
" Well," quoth the tinker, " I would gladly take
my fortune with you, hoping that I may be service-
able to you upon occasion."
" Well," quoth Tom, " with all my heart, for I
must needs acknowledge I shall be right glad of
your company."
This said, they both went forward, Tom with his
two-handed sword, and the tinker with his long pike-
staff. Now, after they had travelled about four or
five hours, it was their fortune to light on the Avhole
knot of wild beasts together, of which six of them
were bears, the other eight young lions. Now, when
they had fastened their eyes on Tom and the tinker,
these ravenous beasts began to roar and run furiously,
as if they would have devoured them at a mouthful.
Tom and the tinker stood, side by side, with their
backs against an oak, and as the lions and bears
came within their reach, Tom, with his long sword,
clove their heads asunder till they were all destroyed,
saving one lion who, seeing the rest of his fellows
slain, was endeavouring to escape. Now the tinker,
being somewhat too venturous, ran too hastily after
him, and, having given the lion one blow, he turned
upon him again, seizing him by the throat with that
violence that the poor tinker fell dead to the ground.
Tom Hickathrift, seeing this, gave the lion such a
blow that it ended his life.
Now was his joy uiiiigled with sorrow, for though
he had cleared the island of those ravenous savage
116 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
beasts, yet his grief was intolerable for the loss of
his old friend. Home he returned to his lady,
where, in token of joy for the wonderful success
which he had in his dangerous enterprises, he made
a very noble and splendid feast, to which he invited
most of his best friends and acquaintances, to whom
he made the following promise —
" My friends, while I have strength to stand.
Most manfully I will pursue
All dangers, till I clear this land
Of lions, bears, and tigers too.
This you '11 find true, or I 'm to blame.
Let it remain upon record,
Tom Hickathrift's most glorious fame,
Who never yet has broke his word.
The man who does his country bless
Shall merit much from this fair land ;
He who relieved them in distress
His fame upon record shall stand.
And you, my friends, who hear me now,
Let honest Tom for ever dwell
Within your minds and thoughts, I trow,
Since he has pleased you all so well."
THE SPECTRE COACH.
Cobblers are a thoughtful race of men, and Tom
Shanks was one of their number. He lived in the
little village of Acton, in Suffolk, and it was there
that an adventure befell him, which, as I am
informed by a grandson of his, " had an effect on
him from that day to this " — though the " this " in
the present case is of a somewhat vague meaning,
seeing that Tom has unfortunately been dead some
twenty years at least. The terrible adventure that
befell him was so much the subject of Tom's talk,
that if ever tale could be handed down by means of
oral tradition sure Tom's story should be intact in
every detail.
It seems that one day Tom left Acton on a
journey — quite a remarkable event for him, for he
was a quiet-going fellow, not given to running away
from his last, but sitting contentedly in his little
shop, busily employed in providing his neighbours
Avith good foot-gear. On this day, however, Tom was
called away by the intelligence that a sister of his,
who was in service in a town some little distance
away, was ill and wished to see him. The little
117
118 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
cobbler was a man Avith a warm heart, and as soon
as he received this ill news he laid aside a pair of
shoes he was on for the parson, and which he was
very anxious to finish, for the sooner he touched the
money the better for him and his ; put on his best
coat, took his stick in his hand, and, having bid
farewell to his wife and three little ones, went on
his way, looking back now and then to shake his
stick to them, till he came to the turn in the road
by the side of the high trees when he could see
them no more.
Well, he walked on, and being a stout-hearted
little fellow without much flesh to carry, for cobbling
did not even in those days bring in a fortune, and
Tom and his folk often had hard times of it ; he, in
the course of the morning, Avith a slice out of the
afternoon, arrived at his destination. There, thank
God, he found his sister much better than he might
have expected, judging from the account he had
heard of her, and having stayed an hour or two to
rest his legs, and recruit his stomach with some
beef and a pint of ale, he set out on his way home-
ward.
The way back seemed much longer than it ought
to have been, and Tom cleared the ground very
slowly. Before he had gone far the night closed in ;
but what was that to him, for he knew every inch
of the road ; and as to thieves, why, he had little
enough in his pocket to tempt them, and if need be —
THE SPECTRE COACH. 119
and Tom was not for his size deficient in courage —
he had a good stout stick to defend himself with.
Still it was dismal work that tramp through
lonely lanes, with the trees standing on each side —
not bright and lively as they had been in the day-
time, with the sun shining on their leaves, and the
wind rustling amongst them, but drawn up, still and
dark, like sentinels watching in big cloaks. The
day had closed in with clouds, which threatened to
make the cobbler's journey more miserable with a
down-pour of rain. But this fortunately kept off,
and the moon, having risen, looked out now and then
between the clouds, and a star or two winked in a
style which brought comfort to Tom's heart — they
seemed so companionable.
So he went on and on, till at length he came to
the neighbourhood of Acton again ; and glad enough
he was once more to find himself in quarters where
the very trees and gates and stiles seemed, as it were,
to be old friends — Tom having been used to the
sight of them daily for as many years as had passed
since he was born, and those were not a few, for he
was not exactly a chicken.
Well, he came at length to the park gates, and
was hurrying past them, for the spot had no
particularly good name, and he remembered that he
had heard some queer tales concerning sights folk
had chanced to see there which they would very
much sooner have escaped, when on a sudden his
120 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
legs seemed, as it were, to refuse to stir, and with
his heart thumping against his ribs, as if it would
beat a way out for itself, Tom came to a dead
stand. What was it that he heard 1 It seemed
like a rushing and grinding of stones, with a
cracking like a body of men walking over dry sticks.
It could not be the wind, for there was not a breath
stirring, and the leaves on the trees lay perfectly
still. The noise came nearer and nearer, and the
next thought of Tom was that he would like to hide
himself in some of the dark shadows around him.
But his legs would not stir, and it was as much as
he could do, with the aid of his stick, to liold him-
self up on them. To make matters worse, the
moon now, just as the cobbler was wishing for
darkness, broke out from a cloud, and cast its light
all about him, as if with the very object of showing
him up. It is true the light enabled him to have a
good look about him, but that was not a thing Tom
very much cared about just then.
He stood there a few moments, with the sound
coming louder and louder, till it seemed to be just
at hand. It was evidently in the park itself. Now
it was at the gate. Then, all of a sudden, the gates
swung back with a terrible clang, and there issued as
strange a procession as Tom's, or indeed mortal's,
eyes ever set on. First there came two grooms on
horses, and then a carriage drawn by four large
steeds, while two men rode behind. They were
THE SPECTRE COACH. 121
all goodly looking men enough, and the horses were,
as Tom saw at a glance, as pretty pieces of flesh as
any man might wish to throw leg across, but one
thing struck horror to the cobbler's heart as he
looked, for he saw that none of the horsemen had a
head on him. On they dashed at a break-neck
speed, their horses' hoofs seeming to dash fire from
the stones on the road, while the wheels of the
coach looked like four bright circles, so fast was it
drawn over the ground. Cracking their whips, as if
to urge the steeds on to even greater speed, the men
rode on, nor did Tom hear them utter a word, as
they swept past him.
As the coach went by him, and his eyes were
glued upon it, the interior of the carriage seemed to
him to be lighted up in some mysterious manner,
and inside, Tom said, he clearly saw a gentleman
and a lady, for such they evidently were by their
dress, sitting side by side, but without heads like
their attendants.
Another minute and all was gone. Tom rubbed
his eyes and wondered if he had not been asleep,
but who ever heard of a man falling asleep standing
up with no better prop than a stick in his hand 1
He looked at the gates. They were closed and fast.
He looked down the road, but could distinguish
nothing.* In the distance, however, he could hear
the sound of, as it were, a big gust of wind gradually
travelling away, while all around him was still.
122 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
It did not take him long to get home after that,
you may be sure, and when he told his storj^,
though there were some that laughed and hinted
that Tom was trying to make a hero of himself by
pretending that he had seen what no one else of
those he told the story to had set eyes on, yet
the old folk remembered that they themselves had
spoken with folk who had seen the very same siglit
for themselves, so I think that Tom Shanks has the
very best claim to be considered the last man in the
place who ever witnessed the progress of the spectre
coach.
THE BAKER'S DAUGHTER.
A VERY long time ago, I cannot tell you when, it is
so long since, there lived in a town in Herefordshire
a baker who used to sell bread to all the folk
around. He was a mean, greedy man, who sought
in every way to put money by, and who did not
scruple to cheat such people as he was able when
they came to his shop.
He had a daughter who helped him in his business,
being unmarried and living with him, and seeing
how her father treated the people, and how he suc-
ceeded in getting money by his bad practices, she,
too, in time came to do the like.
One day when her father was away, and the girl
remained alone in the shop, an old woman came
in —
" My pretty girl," said she, " give me a bit of
dough I beg of you, for I am old and hiuigry."
The girl at first told her to be off, but as the old
woman would not go, and begged harder than
before for a piece of bread, at last the baker's
daughter took up a piece of dough, and giving it to
her, says —
123
124 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
" There now, be off, and do not trouble me any-
more."
" My dear," says the woman, " you have given me
a piece of dough, let me bake it in your oven, for I
have no place of my own to bake it in."
"Very well," replied the girl, and, taking the
dough, she placed it in the oven, while the old woman
sat down to wait till it was baked.
When the girl thought the bread should be ready
she looked in the oven expecting to find there a
small cake, and was very much amazed to find
instead a very large loaf of bread. She pretended
to look about the oven as if in search of something.
" I cannot find the cake," said she, " It must
have tumbled into the fire and got burnt."
"Very Avell," said the old woman, "'give me
another piece of dough instead and I will wait
while it bakes."
So the girl took another piece of dough, smaller
than the first piece, and having put it in the oven,
shut to the door. At the end of a few minutes or so
she looked in again, and found there another loaf,
larger than the last.
" Dear me," said she, pretending to look about
her, "I have surely lost the dough again. There 's
no cake here."
" 'Tis a pity," said the old woman, " but never
mind. T will wait while you bake me another
piece."
THE baker's daughter. 125
So the baker's daughter took a piece of dough as
small as one of her fingers and put it in the oven,
while the old woman sat near. When she thought
it ought to be baked, she looked into the oven and
there saw a loaf, larger than either of the others.
" That is mine," said the old woman.
" No," replied the girl. " How could such a large
loaf have grown out of a little piece of dough ] "
" It is mine, it is sure," said the woman.
" It is not," said the girl, " and you shall not
have it."
Well, when the old woman saw that the girl
would not give her the loaf, and saw how she had
tried to cheat her, for she was a fairy, and knew all
the tricks that the baker's daughter had put upon
her, she draws out from under her cloak a stick,
and just touches the girl with it. Then a wonderful
thing occurred, for the girl became all of a sudden
changed into an owl, and flying about the room, at
last, made for the door, and, finding it open, she flew
out and was never seen again.
THE FAIRY CHILDEEN.
" Another wonderful thing," says Ralph of Cogge-
shall, "hapi^ened in Suffolk, at St, Mary's of the
Wolf-pits.
A boy and his sister were found by the inhabit-
ants of that place near the mouth of a pit which is
there, who had the 4'orni of all their limbs like to
those of other men, but they were different in the
colour of their skin from all the people of our
habitable world, for the whole surface of their skin
was tinged of a green colour. No one could under-
stand their speech.
When they Avere brought as curiosities to the
house of a certain knight, Sir Richard de Calne, at
Wikes, they wept bitterly. Bread and victuals were
set before them, but they would touch none of them,
though they were tormented by great hunger, as the
girl afterwards acknowledged. At length when
some beans, just cut, with their stalks, were brought
into the house, they made signs, with great avidity,
that they should be given to them. When they
were brought they opened the stalks instead of the
pods, thinking the beans were in the hollow of them.
126
THE FAIRY CHILDREN. 127
But not finding tliem there, tliey began to weep
anew. When those who were present saw this, they
opened the pods, and showed them the naked beans.
Tliey fed on these with great delight, and for a long
time tasted no other food. The boy, however, was
always languid and depressed, and he died within a
short time.
The girl enjoyed continual good health, and, be-
coming accustomed to various kinds of food, lost
completely that green colour, and gradually recovered
the sanguine habit of her entire body. She was
afterwards regenerated by the laver of holy baptism,
and lived for many years in .the service of that
knight, as I have frequently heard from him and his
family.
Being frequently asked about the people of her
country, she asserted that the inhabitants, and all
they had in that country, were of a green colour,
and that they saw no sun, but enjoyed a degree of
light like what is after sunset. Being asked how
she came into this country with the aforesaid boy,
she replied, that, as they were following their flocks,
they came to a certain cavern, on entering which
they heard a delightful sound of bells, ravished by
whose sweetness they went on for a long time
wandering on through the cavern, until they came
to its mouth. When they came out of it, they were
struck senseless by the excessive light of the sun,
and the unusual temperature of the air, and they
128 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
thus lay for a long time. Being terrified by the
noise or those who came on them, they wished to
fly, but they could not find the entrance of the
cavern before they were caught."
This story is also told by William of Newbury,
who places it in the reign of King Stephen. He
says he long hesitated to believe it, but was at
length overcome by the weight of evidence. Ac-
cording to him, the place where the children
appeared, was about four or five miles from Bury-
St.-Edmund's. They came in harvest-time out of
the Wolf-pits. They both lost their green hue, and
were baptized, and learned English. The boy, who
was the younger, died, but the girl married-^a man
at Lenna, and lived many years. They said their
country was called St. Martin's Land, as that saint
was chiefly worshipped there ; that the people were
Christians, and had churches ; that the sun did not
rise there, but that there was a bright country which
could be seen from theirs, being divided from it by
a very broad river.
THE HISTOEY OF JACK AND THE
BEANSTALK.
[From a Chap-book printed at Paisley, by G. Caldwell,
bookseller. Probable date, 1810]
In the days of King Alfred there lived a poor
woman whose cottage was situated in a remote
country village, a great many miles from London.
Shg had been a widow some years, and had an
only child named Jack, whom she indulged to a
fault. The consequence of her blind partiality was,
that Jack did not pay the least attention to any-
thing she said, but was indolent, careless, and ex-
travagant. His follies were not owing to a bad
disposition, but that his mother had never checked
him. By degrees she disposed of all she possessed
— scarcely anything remained but a cow.
The poor woman one day met Jack with tears in
her eyes. Her distress was great, and, for the first
time in her life, she could not help reproaching him,
saying —
" 0 you wicked child ! by your ungrateful
course of life you have at last brought me to
beggary and ruin. Cruel, cruel boy ! I have not
English. I
130 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
money enough to purchase even a bit of bread for
another day. Nothing now remains to sell but my
poor cow. I am sorry to part Avitli her. It grieves
me sadly, but we must not starve."
For a few minutes Jack felt a degree of remorse,
but it was soon over, and he began teasing his
mother to let him sell the cow at the next village
so much, that she at last consented.
As he was going along he met a butcher, who
inquired why he was driving the cow from home.
Jack replied he was going to sell it. The butcher
held some curious beans in his hat that were of
various colours and attracted Jack's notice. This
did not pass unnoticed by the butcher, who, know-
ing Jack's easy temper, thought now was the time
to take advantage of it, and, determined not to let
slip so good an opportunity, asked what was the
price of the cow, offering at the same time all the
beans in his hat for her. The silly boy could not
conceal the pleasure he felt at what he supposed so
great an offer. The bargain was struck instantly,
and the cow exchanged for a few paltry beans.
Jack made the best of his way home, calling aloud
to his mother before he reached the house, thinking
to surprise her.
When she saw the beans and heard Jack's account,
her patience quite forsook her. She kicked the
beans away in a passion — they flew in all directions
— some were scattered in the garden. Not having
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 131
anything to eat, they both went supperless to
bed.
Jack awoke very early in the morning, and see-
ing something uncommon from the window of his
bed-chamber, ran downstairs into the garden, where
he soon discovered that some of the beans had taken
root and sprung up surprisingly. The stalks were of
an immense thickness, and had so entwined that they
formed a ladder nearly like a chain in appearance.
Looking upwards, he could not discern the top.
It appeared to be lost in the clouds. He tried the
stalk, found it firm, and not to be shaken. He
quickly formed the resolution of endeavouring to
climb up to the top in order to seek his fortune,
and ran to communicate his intention to his mother,
not doubting but she would be equally pleased with
himself She declared he should not go ; said it
would break her heart if he did; entreated and
threatened, but all in vain.
Jack set out, and, after climbing for some hours,
reached the top of the beanstalk, fatigued and quite
exhausted. Looking around, he found himself in a-
strange country. It appeared to be a desert, quite
barren, not a tree, shrub, house, or living creature
to be seen. Here and there were scattered frag-
ments of stone, and at unequal distances small heaps
of earth were loosely thrown together.
Jack seated himself, pensively, upon a block of
stone, and thought of his mother. He reflected
132 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
with sorrow on his disobedience in climbing the
beanstalk against her will; and concluded that he
must die of hunger.
However, he walked on, hoping to see a house
where he might beg something to eat and drink.
Presently a handsome young woman appeared at a
distance. As she approached Jack could not help
admiring how beautiful and lively she looked. She
was dressed in the most elegant manner, and had a
small white Avand in her hand, on the top of which
was a peacock of pure gold.
While Jack was looking, with the greatest sur-
prise, at this charming female, she came up to him,
and, with a smile of the most bewitching sweetness,
inquired how he came there. Jack related the
circumstance of the beanstalk. She asked him if
he recollected his father. He replied he did not,
and added there must be some mystery relating
to him, because if he asked his mother who his
father was she always burst into tears and appeared
to be violently agitated, nor did she recover her-
.self for some days after. One thing, however, he
could not avoid observing on these occasions, which
was, that she always carefully avoided answering
him, and even seemed afraid of speaking, as if
there were some secret connected with his father's
history which she must not disclose.
The young woman replied —
" I will reveal the whole story. Your mother
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 133
must not do so. But before I begin I require a
solemn promise on your part to do what I com-
mand. I ain a fairy, and, if you do not perform
exactly what I desire, you will be destroyed."
Jack was frightened at her menaces, and promised
to fulfil her injunctions exactly, and the fairy thus
addressed him —
"Your father was a rich man. His disposition
was very benevolent. He was very good to the
poor, and constantly relieved them. He made it a
rule never to let a day pass without doing good to
some person. On one particular day in the week
he kept open house, and invited only those who
were reduced and had lived well. He always pre-
sided himself, and did all in his power to render
his guests comfortable. The rich and the great
were next invited. The servants were all happy
and greatly attached to their master and mistress.
Your father, though only a private gentleman, was
as rich as a prince, and he deserved all he possessed,
for he only lived to do good. Such a man was
soon known and talked of. A giant lived a great
many miles off. This man was altogether as wicked
as your father was good. He was, in his heart,
envious, covetous, and cruel, but he had the art of
concealing those vices. He was poor, and wished
to enrich himself at any rate.
" Hearing your father spoken of, he formed the
design of becoming acquainted Avith him, hoping to
134 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
ingratiate himself into your father's favour. He
removed quickly into your neighbourhood, and
caused it to be reported that he was a gentleman
who had just lost all he possessed by an earthquake
and had found it difficult to escape with his life.
His wife was with him. Your father gave credit
to his story and pitied him. He gave him hand-
some apartments in his own house, and caused him
and his wife to be treated like visitors of con-
sequence, little imagining that the giant was under-
taking a horrid return for all his favours.
" Things went on this way for some time, the
giant becoming daily more impatient to put his plan
in execution. At last a favourable opportunity
presented itself. Your father's house was at some
distance from the sea-shore, but with a glass the
coast could be seen distinctly. The giant was one
day using the telescope ; the wind was very high,
and he saw a fleet of ships in distress off the rocks.
He hastened to your father, mentioned the circum-
stance, and eagerly requested he would send all the
servants he could spare to relieve the sufferers.
" Eveiy one was instantly despatched, except the
porter and your nurse. The giant then joined
your father in the study, and appeared to be de-
lighted. He really was so. Your father recom-
mended a favourite book, and was handing it down,
Avhen the giant, taking the opportunity, stabbed
him, and he instantly fell down dead. The giant
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 135
left the body, found the porter and nurse, and
presently despatched them, being determined to
have no living witnesses of his crimes.
"You were then only three months old. Your
mother had you in her arms in a remote part of the
house, and was ignorant of what was going on.
She went into the study, but how was she shocked
on discovering your father dead. She was stupefied
with horror and grief, and was motionless. The
giant, who was seeking her, found her in that state,
and hastened to serve her and you as he had done
your father, but she fell at his feet, and, in a
pathetic manner, besought him to spare her life
and yours.
" Remorse, for a moment, seemed to touch the
barbarian's heart. He granted your lives, but first
he made her take a most solemn oath never to inform
you who your father was, or to answer any questions
concerning him, assuring her that if she did he
would certainly discover her and put both of you to
death in the most cruel manner. Your mother took
you in her arms and fled as quickly as possible.
She was scarcely gone when the giant repented he
had suffered her to escape. He would have pursued
her instantly, but he had to provide for his own
safety, as it was necessary he should be gone before
the servants returned. Having gained your father's
confidence he knew where to find all his treasure.
He soon loaded himself and his wife, set the house
136 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
on fire in several pLaces, and, when the servants
returned, the house was burnt quite down to the
ground.
" Your poor mother, forlorn, abandoned, and for-
saken, wandered with you a great many miles from
this scene of desolation. Fear added to her haste.
She settled in the cottage where you were brought
up, and it was entirely owing to her fear of the
giant that she never mentioned your father to you.
'* I became your father's guardian at his birth, but
fairies have laws to which they are subject as well
as mortals. A short time before the giant went to
your father's I transgressed. My punishment was a
suspension of power for a limited time — an unfor-
tunate circumstance — for it totally prevented my
succouring your father.
" The day on which you met the butcher, as you
went to sell your mother's cow, my poAver was re-
stored. It was I who secretly prompted you to take
the beans in exchange for the cow.
" By my power the beanstalk grew to so great a
height and formed a ladder. I need not add I in-
spired you with a strong desire to ascend the ladder.
" The giant lives in this country, and you are the
person appointed to punish him for all his wicked-
ness. You will have dangers and difficulties to
encounter, but you must persevere in avenging the
death of your father, or you will not jirosper in any
of your undertakings, but be always miserable.
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 137
" As to the giant's possessions, you may seize on
all you can, for everything he has is yours though
now you are unjustly deprived of it. One thing I
desire. Do not let your mother know you are
acquainted with your father's history till you see me
again.
" Go along the direct road, and you will soon see
the house where your cruel enemy lives. While
you do as I order you I will protect and guard you,
but, remember, if you dare disobey my commands, a
most dreadful punishment awaits you."
When the fairy had concluded, she disappeared
leaving Jack to pursue his journey. He walked on
till after sunset when, to his great joy, he espied a
large mansion. This agreeable sight revived his
drooping spirits, and he redoubled his speed, and
soon reached the house. A plain-looking woman
was at the door, and Jack accosted her, begging she
would give him a morsel of bread and a night's
lodging.
She expressed the greatest surprise at seeing him,
and said it was quite uncommon to see a human
being near their house, for it was well known her
husband was a large and very powerful giant, and
that he would never eat anything but human flesh,
if he could possibly get it ; that he did not think
anything of walking fifty miles to procure it, usually
being out the whole day for that purpose.
This account greatly terrified Jack, but still he
138 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
hoped to elude the giant, and tlierefore he again
entreated the woman to take him in for one night
only, and hide him where she thought proper. The
good woman at last suffered herself to be persuaded,
for she was of a compassionate and generous dis-
position, and took him into the house.
First they entered a fine large hall, magnificently
furnished. They then passed through several
spacious rooms, all in the same style of grandeur,
but they appeared to be quite forsaken and deso-
late.
A long gallery was next. It was very dark, with
just light enough to show that, instead of a wall, on
one side there was a grating of iron which parted
off a dismal dungeon, from whence issued the groans
of those poor victims whom the cruel giant reserved
in confinement for his own voracious appetite.
Poor Jack was half dead with fear, and would
have given the world to have been with his mother
again, for he now began to fear that he should never
see her more, and gave himself up for lost. He
even mistrusted the good woman, and thought she
had let him into the house for no other purpose
than to lock him up among the unfortunate people
in the dungeon.
At the further end of the gallery there was a
spacious kitchen, and a very excellent fire was burn-
ing in the grate. The good woman bade Jack sit
down, and gave him plenty to eat and drink. Jack,
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 139
not seeing anything here to make him uncomfort-
able, soon forgot his fear, and was just beginning
to enjoy himself when he was aroused by a loud
knocking at the street-door, which made the whole
house shake. The giant's wife ran to secure Jack
in the oven and then went to let her husband in.
Jack heard him accost her in a voice like thunder,
saying —
" Wife, I smell fresh meat."
" Oh, my dear," replied she, " it is nothing but
the people in the dungeon,"
The giant appeared to believe her, and walked
into the very kitchen where poor Jack was concealed,
who shook, trembled, and was more terrified than he
had yet been.
At last the monster seated himself quietly by the
fireside, whilst his wife prepared supper. By degrees
Jack recovered himself sufficiently to look at the
giant through a small crevice. He was quite
astonished to see what an amazing quantity he
devoured, and thought he would never have done
eating and drinking. When supper was ended the
giant desired his wife to bring him his hen. A
very beautiful hen was brought and placed on the
table before him. Jack's curiosity was very great
to see what would happen. He observed that every
time the giant said " Lay," the hen laid an egg of
solid gold.
The giant amused himself a long while with his
140 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
hen, and meanwhile his wife went to bed. At
length the giant fell asleep by the fireside and snored
like the roaring of a cannon. At daybreak Jack,
finding the giant still asleep, and not likely to awaken
soon, crept softly out of his hiding-place, seized the
hen, and ran off wdth her.
He met with some difficulty in finding his way
out of the house, but, at last, he reached the road in
safety. He easily found his way to the beanstalk
and descended it better and quicker than he had ex-
pected. His mother was overjoyed to see him. He
found her crying bitterly, and lamenting his hard
fate, for she concluded he had come to some shock-
ing end through his rashness.
Jack was impatient to show his hen, and inform
his mother how valuable it was.
" And now, mother," said Jack, " I have brought
home that which will make us rich, and I hope to
make some amends for the affliction I have caused
you through my idleness, extravagance, and folly."
The hen produced as many golden eggs as they
desired, which Jack and his mother sold, and so in
a little time became possessed of as much riches as
they wanted.
For some months Jack and his mother lived very
happily together, but he, being very desirous of
travelling, recollecting the fairy's commands, and
fearing that if he delayed she would put her threats
into execution, longed to climb the beanstalk and
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 141
pay the giant another visit, in order to carry away
some more of his treasure, for, during the time that
Jack was in the giant's mansion, while he lay con-
cealed in the oven, he learned, from the conversation
that took place between the giant and his wife,
that he possessed some wonderful curiosities. Jack
thought of his journey again and again, but still he
could not summon resolution enough to break it to
his mother, being well assured she would endeavour
to prevent his going. However, one day he told
her boldly that he must take a journey up the bean-
stalk. His mother begged and prayed him not to
think of it, and tried all in her power to dissuade
him. She told him that the giant's wife would
certainly knoAv him again, and the giant would
desire nothing better than to get him into his power,
that he might put him to a cruel death in order tfi
be revenged for the loss of his hen.
Jack, finding that all his arguments were useless,
pretended to give up the point, though he was
resolved to go at all events. He had a dress pre-
pared which would disguise him, and something to
colour his skin, and he thought it impossible for
any one to recollect him in this dress.
In a few mornings after this, he rose very early,
changed his complexion, and, unperceived by any
one, climbed the beanstalk a second time. He was
greatly fatigued when he reached the top, and very
hungry.
142 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
Having rested some time on on of the stones, he
pursued his journey to the giant's mansion. He
reached it late in the evening, and found the woman
at the door as before. Jack addressed her, at the
same time telling her a pitiful tale, and requesting
she would give him some victuals and drink, and
also a night's lodging.
She told him (what he knew very well before)
about her husband's being a powerful and cruel
giant and also how she one night admitted a poor,
hungry, friendless boy, who was half dead with
travelling, and that the ungrateful fellow had stolen
one of the giant's treasures, ever since which her
husband had been worse than before, had used her
very cruelly, and continually upbraided her with
being the cause of his loss.
Jack was at no loss to discover that he was
attending to the account of a story in which he was
the principal actor. He did his best to persuade
the old woman to admit him, but found it a ver}^
hard task.
At last she consented, and as she led the way
Jack observed that everything was just as he had
found it before. She took him into the kitchen, and
after he had done eating and drinking, she hid him
in an old lumber closet. The giant returned at the
usual time, and walked in so heavily that the house
was shaken to the foundation. He seated himself
by the fire, and, soon after, exclaimed —
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 143
" Wife, I smell fresh meat."
The wife replied it was the crows, which had
brought a piece of raw meat and left it on the top
of the house.
Whilst supper was preparing, the giant was very
ill-tempered and impatient, frequently lifting up his
hand to strike his wife for not being quick enough,
but she was always so fortunate as to elude the
blow. The giant was also continually upbraiding
her Avith the loss of his wonderful hen.
The giant's wife, having set supper on the table,
went to another apartment and brought from it a
huge pie which she also placed before him.
When he had ended his plentiful supper and eaten
till he was quite satisfied, he said to his wife —
" I must have something to amuse me, either my
bags of money or my harp."
After a good deal of ill-humour, and after having
teased his wife for some time, he commanded her to
bring down his bags of gold and silver. Jack, as
before, peeped out of his hiding place, and presently
the wife brought two bags into the room. They
were of a very large size. One was filled with new
guineas, and the other with new shillings. They
were placed before the giant, who began reprimand-
ing his poor wife most severely for staying so long.
She replied, trembling with fear, that they Avere so
heavy she could scarcely lift them, and concluded by
saying she would never again bring them downstairs,
144 ENGLISH FOLKLORE,
adding that she had nearly fainted owing to their
weight.
This so exasjjerated the giant that he raised his
hand to strike her, but she escaped and went to bed,
leaving him to count over his treasure by way of
amusement.
The giant took his bags, and after turning them
over and over to see they were in the same state
he had left them, began to count their contents.
First the bag which contained the silver was emptied,
and the contents placed upon the table. Jack viewed
the glittering heaps with delight, and most heartily
wished them in his own possession. The giant (little
thinking he was so narrowly watched) reckoned the
silver over several times, and then, having satisfied
himself that all was safe, put it into the bags again,
which he made very secure.
The other bag was opened next, and the guineas
placed upon the table. If Jack was pleased at the
sight of the silver, how much more delighted must
he have felt when he saw such a heap of glittering
gold 1 He even had the boldness to think of gaining
both bags, but, suddenly recollecting himself, he
began to fear that the giant would sham sleep, the
better to entrap any one who might be concealed.
When the giant had counted over the gold till he
was tired, he put it up, if possible more secure than
he had put up the silver before, and he then fell
back on his chair by the fireside and fell asleep.
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 145
He snored so loud that Jack compared his noise to
the roaring of the sea in a high wind, when the tide is
coming in. At last Jack concluded him to be asleep
and therefore secure. He stole out of his hiding-
place and approached the giant, in order to carry off"
the two bags of money. Just as he laid his hand
upon one of the bags a little dog, which he had not
observed before, started from under the giant's chair
and barked at Jack most furiously, who now gave
himself up for lost. Fear rivetted him to the spot,
and instead of endeavouring to escape he stood still,
though expecting his enemy to awake every instant.
Contrary, hoAvever, to his expectation the giant con-
tinued in a sound sleep, and the dog grew weary of
barking. Jack now began to recollect himself, and,
on looking around, saw a large piece of meat. This
he threw to the dog, who instantly seized it, and
took it into the lumber-closet which Jack had just
left.
Finding himself delivered from a noisy and
troublesome enemy, and seeing the giant did not
awake. Jack boldly seized the bags, and, throwing
them over his shoulders, ran out of the kitchen.
He reached the street-door in safety, and found it
quite daylight. On his way to the top of the bean-
stalk he found himself greatly incommoded with the
weight of the money bags, and, really, they were so
heavy he could scarcely carry them.
Jack was overjoyed when he found himself near
Exglish. Y
146 ENGLISH FOLKLORE,
the beanstalk. He soon reached the bottom and
ran to meet his mother. To his great surprise the
cottage was deserted. He ran from one room to
another without being able to find any one. He
then hastened into the village, hoping to see some
of his neighbours, who could inform him where he
could find her.
An old woman at last directed him to a neigh-
bouring house, where his mother was ill of a fever.
He was greatly shocked on finding her apparently
dying, and could scarcely bear his own reflections
on knowing himself to be the cause of it.
On being informed of our hero's safe return, his
mother, by degrees, revived, and gradually recovered.
Jack presented her his two valuable bags, and they
lived happy and comfortably. The cottage was
rebuilt and well furnished.
For three years Jack heard no more of the bean-
stalk, but he could not forget it, though he feared
making his mother unhappy. She would not mention
the hated beanstalk, lest her doing so should remind
him of taking another journey.
Notwithstanding tke comforts Jack enjoyed at
home, his mind continually dwelt upon the bean-
stalk, for the fairy's menaces in case of his dis-
obedience were ever present to his mind and pre-
vented him from being happy. He could think of
nobbing else. It was in vain he endeavoured to
amuse himself. He became thoughtful, would arise
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 147
at the first dawn of day, and would view the bean-
stalk for hours together.
His mother discovered that something preyed
heavily upon his mind, and endeavoured to discover
the cause, but Jack knew too well what the con-
sequence would be should he discover the cause of
his melancholy to her. He did his utmost, therefore,
to conquer the great desire he had for another
journey up the beanstalk. Finding, however, that
his inclination grew too powerful for him, he began
to make secret preparations for his journey, and, on
the longest day, arose as soon as it was light, as-
cended the beanstalk, and reached the top with some
little trouble. He found the road, journey, etc.,
much as it was on the two former times. He
arrived at the giant's mansion in the evening, and
found his wife standing, as usual, at the door.
Jack had disguised himself so completely that she
did not appear to have the least recollection of him.
However, when he pleaded hunger and poverty in
order to gain admittance, he found it very difficult,
indeed, to persuade her. At last he prevailed, and
Avas concealed in the copper.
When the giant returned, he said —
" I smell fresh meat," but Jack felt composed, for
the giant had said so before, and had been soon
satisfied ; however, the giant started up suddenly and
searched all round the room. Whilst this was
going forward Jack was exceedingly terrified, and
148 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
ready to die with fear, wishing himself at home a
thousand times, but when the giant approached the
copper, and put his hand upon the lid, Jack thought
his death was certain. The giant ended his search
there without moving the lid, and seated himself
quietly by the fireside.
The giant at last ate a hearty supper, and Avhen
he had finished, he commanded his wife to fetch
down his harp. Jack peeped under the copper lid
and soon saw the most beautiful harp that could be
imagined. It was placed by the giant on the table,
who said —
" Play," and it instantly played of its own accord,
without being touched. The music was uncommonly
fine. Jack was delighted, and felt more anxious to
get the harp into his possession than either of the
former treasures.
The giant's soul was not attuned to harmony, and
the music soon lulled him into a sound sleep. Now,
therefore, was the time to carry off the harp. As
the giant appeared to be in a more profound sleep
than usual. Jack, soon determined, got out of the
copper and seized the harp. The harp, however,
was enchanted by a fairy, and it called out loudly —
" Master, master ! "
The giant awoke, stood up, and tried to pursue
Jack, but he had di'unk so much that he could
hardly stand. Poor Jack ran as fast as he could,
and, in a little time, the giant recovered sufliciently
THE HISTORY OF JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. 149
to walk slowly, or rather, to reel after him. Had
he been sober he must have overtaken Jack instantly,
but as he then Avas, Jack contrived to be first at the
top of the beanstalk. The giant called after him in
a voice like thunder, and sometimes was very near
him.
The moment Jack got down the beanstalk he
called out for a hatchet, and one was brought him
directly. Just at that instant the giant was
beginning to descend, but Jack Avith his hatchet cut
the beanstalk close off at the root, which made the
giant fall headlong into the garden. The fall killed
him, thereby releasing the world from a barbarous
enemy.
Jack's mother was delighted when she saw the
beanstalk destroyed. At this instant the fairy
appeared. She first addressed Jack's mother, and
explained every circumstance relating to the journeys
up the beanstalk. The fairy then charged Jack to
be dutiful to his mother, and to follow his father's
good example, which was the only way to be happy.
She then disappeared. Jack heartily begged his
mother's pardon for all the sorrow and affliction he
had caused her, promising most faithfully to be very
dutiful and obedient to her for the future.
JOHNNY EEED'S CAT.
"Yes, cats are queer folk, sure enough, and often
knoA7 more than a simple beast ought to by know-
ledge that 's rightly come by. There 's that cat
there, you 've been looking at, will stand at a door
on its hind legs with its front paws on the handle
trying like a Christian to open the door, and
mewling in a manner that's almost like talking.
He 's a London cat, he is, being brought me by a
cousin who lives there, and is called Gilpin, after,
I 'm told, a mayor who was christened the same.
He 's a knowing cat, sure enough ; but it 's not the
London cats that are cleverer than the country
ones. Who knows, he may be a relative of Johnny
Eeed's own tom-cat himself."
" And who was Johnny Eeed 1 and what Avas
there remarkable about his cat ? "
" Have you never heard tell of Johnny Eeed's
cat? It's an old tale they have in the north
countrj^ and it 's true enough, though folk may not
believe it in these days when the Bible 's not gospel
enough for some of them. I 've heard mj^ lather
often tell the story, and he came from Newcastle
150
JOHNNY reed's CAT. 151
way, which is the very part where Johnny Eeed
used to live, being a parish sexton in a village not far
away.
" Well, Johnny Eeed was the sexton, as I 've
already said, and he and his wife kept a cat, a well
enough behaved creature, sure enough, and a beast
as he had no fault to set on, saving a few of the
tricks Avhich all cats play at times, and which seem
bom in the blood of the creatures. It was all black
except one white paw, and seemed as honest and
decent a beast as could be, and Tom would as soon
have suspected it of being any more than it really
seemed to be as he would one of his own children
tliemselves, like many other folk, perhaps, who, may
be, have cats of the same kind, little thinking it.
"Well, the cat had been with him some years
when a strange thing occurred.
" One night Johnny was going home late from
the churchyard, where he had been digging a grave
for a person Avho had died on a sudden, throwing
the grave on Johnny's hands unexpectedly, so that
he had to stop working at it by the light of a
lantern to have it ready for the next day's burying.
Well, having finished his work, and having put his
tools in the shed in a corner of the yard, and having
locked them up safe, he began to walk home pretty
brisk, thinking would his wife be up and have a bit
of fire for him, for the night was cold, a keen wind
blowing over the fields.
152 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
" He hadn't gone far before he comes to a gate at
the roadside, and there seemed to be a strange
shadow about it, in which Johnny saw, as it might be,
a lot of little gleaming fires dancing about, while
some stood steady, just like flashes of light from
little windows in buildings all on fire inside. Says
Johnny to himself, for he was not a man to be easily
frightened, being accustomed by his calling to face
things which might upset other folk —
"'Hullo! What's here? Here's a thing I
never saw before,' and with that he walks straight
up to the gate, while the shadow got deeper and the
fires brighter the nearer he came to it.
"Well, when he came right up to the gate he
finds that the shadow was just none at all, but nine
black cats, some sitting and some dancing about,
and the lights were the flashes from their eyes.
When he came nearer he thou2;ht to scare them off,
and he calls out —
" ' Sh — sh — sh,' but never a cat stirs for all
of it.
" ' I '11 soon scatter you, you ugly varmin,' says
Johnny, looking about him for a stone, which was
not to be found, the night being dark and prevent-
ing him seeing one. Just then he hears a voice
calling —
" ' Johnny Reed ! '
" ' Hullo ! ' says he, ' who 's that wants me 1 '
" ' Johnny Reed,' says the voice again.
JOHNNY reed's CAT. 153
"'Well,' says Johnny, 'I'm here,' and looking
round and seeing no one, for no one was about 'tis
true. ' Was it one of you,' says he, joking like, to the
cats, ' as was calling me 1 '
Yes, of course,' answers one of them, as plain as
ever Christian spoke. ' It 's me as has called you
these three times.'
" Well, with that, you may be sure, Johnny begins
to feel curious, for 'twas the first time he had ever
been spoken to by a cat, and he didn't know what
it might lead to exactly. So he takes off his hat
to the cat, thinking that it was, perhaps, best to
show it respect, and, seeing that he was unable to
guess with whom he was dealing, hoping to come off
all the better for a little civility.
" ' Well, sir,' says he, ' what can I do for you V
" ' It 's not much as I want with you,' says the cat,
* but it 's better it '11 be with you if you do what I
tell you. Tell Dan Eatcliffe that Peggy Poyson 's
dead.'
" ' I will, sir,' says Johnny, wondering at the same
time how he was to do it, for who Dan Eatcliffe was
he knew no more than the dead. Well, with that
all the cats vanished, and Johnny, running the rest
of the way home, rushes into his house, smoking hot
from the fright and the distance he had to go over.
" ' Nan,' says he to his wife, the first words he
spoke, ' who 's Dan Eatcliffe ?'
" ' Dan Eatcliffe,' says she. * I never heard of him,
154 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
and don't know there's any one such living about
here.'
" ' No more do 1/ says he, ' but I must find him
wherever he is.'
*' Then he tells his wife all about how he had met
the cats, and how they had stopped him and given
him the message. Well, his cat sits there in front
of the fire looking as snug and. comfortable as a cat
could be, and nearly half-asleep, but when Johnny
comes to telling his wife the message the cats had
given him, then it jumped up on its feet, and looks
at Johnny, and says —
" ' What ! is Peggy Poyson dead 1 Then it 's no
time for me to be here ; ' and with that it springs
through the door and vanishes, nor was ever seen
again from that day to this."
'• And did the sexton ever find Dan Eatcliffe," I
asked.
" Never. He searched high and low for him
about, but no one could tell him of such a person,
though Johnny looked long enough, thinking it
might be the worse for him if he didn't do his best
to please the cats. At last, however, he gave the
matter up."
" Then, what Avas the meaning of the cat's mes-
sage?"
" It 's hard to tell ; but many folk thought, and
I 'm inclined to agree with them, that Dan RatclifFe
was Johnny's own cat, and no one else, looking at
JOHNNY reed's CAT. 155
tlie Avay he acted, and no other of the name being
known. Who Peggy Poyson was no one could tell,
but likely enough it was some relative of the cat, or
may be some one it was interested in, for it 's little
we know concerning the creatures and their waj's,
and with Avhom and what they 're mixed up."
LAME MOLLY.
Two Devonshire serving-maids declared, as an ex-
cuse perhaps for spending more money than they
ought upon finery, that the pixies were very kind to
them, and would often drop silver for their pleasure
into a bucket of fair water, which they placed for
the accommodation of those little beings every night
in the chimney-corner before they went to bed.
Once, however, it was forgotten ; and the pixies,
finding themselves disappointed by an empty bucket,
whisked up-stairs to the maids' bedroom, popped
through the keyhole, and began, in a very audible
tone, to exclaim against the laziness and neglect of
the damsels.
One of them, who lay awake and heard all this,
jogged her fellow-servant, and proposed getting up
immediately to repair the fault of omission ; but the
lazy girl, who liked not being disturbed out of a
comfortable nap, pettishly declared " That, for her
part, she would not stir out of bed to please all the
pixies in Devonshire." The good-humoured damsel,
however, got up, filled the bucket, and was rewarded
by a handful of silver pennies found in it the next
166
LAME MOLLY. 157
morning. But, ere that time had arrived, what was
her alarm, as she crept towards the bed, to hear all
the elves in high and stern debate consulting as to
what punishment should be inflicted on the lazy lass
who would not stir for their pleasure.
Some proposed " pinches, nips, and bobs," others
to spoil her new cherry-coloured bonnet and ribands.
One talked of sending her the toothache, another of
giving her a red nose, but this last was voted too
severe and vindictive a punishment for a pretty
young woman. So, tempering mercy with justice,
the pixies Avere kind enough to let her off with a
lame leg, which was so to continue only for seven
years, and was alone to be cured by a certain herb,
growing on Dartmoor, whose long and learned and
very difficult name the elfin judge pronounced in a
high and audible voice. It was a name of seven
syllables, seven being also the number of years
decreed for the chastisement.
The good-natured maid, wishing to save her
fellow-damsel so long a suffering, tried Avith might
and main to bear in mind the name of this potent
herb. She said it over and over again, tied a knot
in her garter at every syllable, in order to assist
her memory, and thought she had the word as
sure as her own name, and very possibly felt much
more anxious about retaining the one than the other.
At length she dropped asleep, and did not wake till
the morning. Now, whether her head might be like
158 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
a sieve, that lets out as fast as it takes in, or whether
the over-exertion to remember caused her to forget,
cannot he determined, but certain it is when she
opened her eyes, she knew nothing at all about the
matter, excepting that Molly was to go lame on her
right leg for seven long years, unless a herb with
a strange name could be got to cure her. And lame
she went for nearly the whole of that period.
At length (it was about the end of the time) a
merry, squint-eyed, queer-looking boy started up
one fine summer day, just as she went to pluck a
mushroom, and came tumbling, head over heels,
towards her. He insisted on striking her leg with a
plant which he held .in his hand. From that
moment she got well, and lame Molly, as a reward
for her patience in suffering, became the best dancer
in the whole town at the celebrated festivities of
May-day on the green.
THE BROAVN MAN OF THE JMOORS.
In the year before the great rebellion two young
men from Newcastle Avere sporting on the high
moors above Elsdon, and, after pursuing their game
several houi's, sat down to dine in a green glen,
near one of the mountain streams. After their
repast, the younger lad ran to the brook for water,
and, after stooping to drink, was surprised, on lift-
ing his head again, by the appearance of a brown
dwarf, who stood on a crag covered with brackens
across the burn. This extraordinary personage did
not appear to be above half the stature of a common
man, but was uncommonly stout and broad-built,
having the appearance of vast strength. His dress
was entirely brown, the colour of the brackens,
and his head covered with frizzled red hair. His
countenance was expressive of the most savage
ferocity, and his eyes glared like those of a bull.
It seems he addressed the young man, first
threatening him with his vengeance for having
trespassed on his demesnes, and asking him if he
knew in whose presence he stood. The youth
replied that he supposed him to be the lord of the
159
160 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
moors ; that he had offended thi'ough ignorance ; and
offered to bring him the game he had killed. The
dwarf was a little mollified by this submission, but
remarked that nothing could be more offensive to
him than such an offer, as he considered the wild
animals as his subjects, and never failed to avenge
their destruction. He condescended further to in-
form the young man that he was, like himself,
mortal, though of years far exceeding the lot of
common humanity, and that he hoped for salvation.
He never, he added, fed on anything that had life,
but lived in the summer on whortle berries, and in
winter on nuts and apples, of which he had great
store in the woods. Finally, he invited his new
acquaintance to accompany him home and partake
his hospitality, an offer which the youth was on the
point of accepting, and was just going to spring
across the brook (which if he had done, the dwarf
would certainly have toi'n him to pieces) when his
foot was arrested by the voice of his companion,
who thought he had tarried long. On his looking
round again " the wee brown man was fled."
The story adds that the young man was imprudent
enough to slight the admonition, and to sport over
the moors on his way homewards, but soon after his
return he fell into a lingering disorder, and died
within a year.
HOW THE COBBLER CHEATED THE
DEVIL.
It chanced that once upon a time Jong years ago, in
the days when strange things used to happen in the
"world, and the devil himself used sometimes to walk
about in it in a bare-faced fashion, to the distraction
of all good and bad folk alike, he came to a very
small town where he resolved to stay a while to
play some of his tricks. How it was, whether the
people were better or were worse than he expected
to find them, whether they would not give way to
him, or whether they went beyond him and out-
witted him, I don't know, and so cannot say; but
sure it is that in a short while he became terribly
angry with the folk, and at length was so disgusted
that he threatened he would make them repent
their treatment of him, for he would punish them
in a manner which should show them his power.
With that he flew off in a fury, and the folk, know-
ing with whom they had to deal, were very sad
thinking what terrible thing would overtake them,
and at their wits' end to imagine how they might
manage to escape the claws of the Evil One.
E'iglish. Jj
162 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
Accordingly it was decided to call a meeting of
the townsfolk, to which all, old and young, should
come to deliver their opinion as to the best course
to be pursued, only those too old to walk, the sick,
and the foolish, being not called to the council.
Very many different courses were proposed, and
while these were being debated a man rushed into
the hall where the council was held, and informed
them that their enemy was coming, for he had him-
self seen him making his way to the town, bearing
on his shoulder a stone almost big enough to bury
the place under it. He reported that the devil was
yet a long way off, for his load hampered him sadly
and he could not travel fast.
What to do the councillors did not know, when
suddenly there came amongst them a poor cobbler,
whom they had forgot to call to the meeting, for
he was, indeed, looked upon as only half-witted.
"I will go and meet him," said he, "and stop
him coming here."
" You stop him ! " cried they all ; " it 's mad you
must be to think of it."
" I '11 go all the same," said the cobbler, and
without saying a Avord more he goes out and begins
to make ready for his journey.
First of all he collected together as many old
boots and shoes as he could find, and when he had
got them all in a bundle, he finds out the man who
had seen the devil coming on, and inquired of him
HOW THE COBBLER CHEATED THE DEVIL. 163
the way he should go to meet him. The man told
him the road, and the cobbler set out. He walked,
and walked, and walked, till at last he came to the
devil, who was sitting by the roadside resting him-
self and trying to get cool, for the day was warm,
and he was nearly worn out with carrying the big
rock which lay beside him.
" Do you know such-and-such a place 1 " asks
he of the man, naming the town he would be at.
"I do, indeed," says the man, "for I ought to,
seeing I have lived in its neighbourhood these many
years, and have only left there to travel here."
"And how many days have you been getting
here 1 " asked the devil anxiously, for he had hoped
he was near the end of his journey.
"Oh, days and days," replies the man. "See
here," and he opens his bundle of old boots that he
had ready, — " see here," says he, " these are the boots
I 've worn out on the hard road in coming from the
place here."
" Have you, indeed ! " says the devil, looking at
them amazed, little thinking that the man was
lying as he showed him pair after pair, all in holes
and shreds. " Well, indeed, it must be a long way
off," and he looks around him, and then at the rock,
and thinks what a terrible long way he has had to
bring it, and begins to doubt whether, after all, since
he 's still got so far to go, it 's worth all the trouble.
" If it had been near," says he, " it would have
164 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
been a difFereufc thing, and I would have shown
them what it is to treat me as they did, but as it 's
so far off it 's another matter, and I don't think it 's
worth the trouble."
So he just takes up the rock and flings it aside
in a field, and goes off back again. So the cobbler
came home, and told all the townsfolk what he had
done, and how he had cheated the devil, and I can
assure you that they all admired his cleverness, and
the joke of tricking the devil as he had, nor did
they allow him to lose in consequence of missing
his day's work.
THE TAVISTOCK WITCH.
An old witch in days of yore lived in the neighbour-
hood of Tavistock, and whenever she wanted money
she would assume the shape of a hare, and would
send out her grandson to tell a certain huntsman,
who lived hard by, that he had seen a hare sitting
at such a particular spot, for which he always re-
ceived the reward of sixpence. After this deception
had been practised many times, the dogs turned out'
the hare pursued, often seen but never caught, a
sportsman of the party began to suspect " that the
devil was in the dance," and there would be no end
to it. The matter was discussed, a justice con-
sulted, and a clergyman to boot, and it was thought
that however clever the devil might be, law and
church combined would be more than a match for
him. It was therefore agreed that, as the boy was
singularly regular in the hour at which he came to
announce the sight of the hare, all should be in
readiness for a start the instant such information
was given, and a neighbour of the witch, nothing
friendly to her, promised to let the parties know
directly that the old woman and her grandson left
165
166 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
the cottage and went oti' together, the one to be
hunted, and the other to set on the hunt.
The news came, the hounds were unkennelled,
and huntsmen and sportsmen set off with surprising
speed. The witch, now a hare, and her little col-
league in iniquity, did not expect so very speedy a
turn out, so that the game was pursued at a
desperate rate, and the boy, forgetting himself in
a moment of alarm, was heard to exclaim —
" Eun, granny, run ; run for your life ! "
At last the pursuers lost the hare, and she once
more got safe into the cottage by a little hole in the
bottom of the door, but not large enough to admit a
hound in chase. The huntsman and the squires, with
their train, lent a hand to break open the door, but
could not do it till the parson and the justice came
up, but as law and church were certainly designed
to break through iniquity, even so did they now
succeed in bursting the magic bonds that op-
posed them. Up-stairs they all went. There they
found the old hag, bleeding and covered with wounds,
and still out of breath. She denied she was a hare,
and railed at the whole party.
'•' Call up the hounds," said the huntsman, " and
let us see what they take her to be. Maybe we
may yet have another hunt."
On hearing this, the old woman cried quarter.
The boy dropped on his knees and begged hard for
mercy, Mercy was granted on condition of its being
THE TAVISTOCK WITCH. 167
received with a good whipping, and the huntsman,
having long practised amongst the hounds, now tried
his hand on their game. Thus the old woman
escaped a worse fate for the time being, but on being
afterwards put on trial for bewitching a young
woman, and making her spit pins, the above was
given as evidence against her, and the old woman
finished her days, like a martyr, at the stake.
THE WORM OF LAMBTON.
The young heir of Lambtou led a dissolute and evil
course of life, equally regardless of the obligations of
his high estate, and the sacred duties of religion.
According to his profane custom, he was fishing on
a Sunday, and threw his line into the river to catch
fish, at a time when all good men should have been
engaged in the solemn observance of the day. After
having toiled in vain for some time, he vented his
disappointment at his ill success, in curses loud and
deep, to the great scandal of all who heard him, on
their way to Holy Mass, and to the manifest peril
of his own soul.
At length he felt something extraordinary tugging
at his line, and, in the hope of catching a large fish,
he drew it up with the utmost skill and care, yet it
required all his strength to bring the expected fish
to land.
What was his surprise and mortification, when,
instead of a fish, he found that he had only caught
a worm of most unseemly and disgusting appearance.
He hastily tore it from his hook and threw it into a
well hard by.
168
THE WORM OF LAMBTON. 169
He again threw in his line, and continued to fish,
when a stranger of venerable appearance, passing by,
asked him —
" What sport 1 "
To which he replied —
" I think I've caught the devil ; " and directed the
inquirer to look into the well.
The stranger saw the worm, and remarked that
he had never seen the like of it before — that it was
like an eft, but that it had nine holes on each side
of its mouth, and tokened no good.
The worm remained neglected in the well, but
soon grew so large that it became necessary to seek
another abode. It usually lay in the day-time coiled
round a rock in the middle of the river, and at night
frequented a neighbouring hill, twining itself around
the base ; and it continued to increase in length
until it could lap itself three times around the hill.
It now became the terror of the neighbourhood,
devouring lambs, sucking the cow's milk, and com-
mitting every species of injury on the cattle of the
affrighted peasantry.
The immediate neighbourhood was soon laid waste,
and the worm, finding no further support on the
north side of the river, crossed the stream towards
Lambton Hall, where the old lord was then living
in grief and sorrow, the young heir of Lambton
having repented him of his former sins, and gone to
the wars in a far distant land.
170 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
The terrified household assembled in council, and
it was proposed by the stewart, a man far advanced
in years and of great experience, that the large
trough which stood in the courtyard should be filled
with milk. The monster approached and, eagerly
drinking the milk, returned without inflicting further
injury, to repose around its favourite hill.
The worm returned the next morning, crossing
the stream at the same hour, and directing its way
to the hall. The quantity of milk to be provided
was soon found to be the product of nine cows, and
if any portion short of this quantity was neglected
or forgotten the worm showed the most violent signs
of rage, by lashing its tail around the trees in the
park, and tearing them up by the roots.
]\Iany a gallant knight of undoubted fame and
prowess sought to slay this monster Avhich was the
terror of the whole country side, and it is related that
in these mortal combats, although the worm had been
frequently cut asunder, yet the several parts had
immediately reunited, and the valiant assailant never
escaped without the loss of life or limb, so that, after
many fruitless and fatal attempts to destroy the
worm, it remained, at length, in tranquil possession
of its favourite hill — all men fearing to encounter so
deadly an enemy.
At length, after seven long years, the gallant heir
of Lambton returned from the wars of Christendom,
and found the broad lands of his ancestors laid waste
THE WORM OF LAMBTON. 171
and desolate. He heard the vvailings of the people,
for their hearts were filled with terror and alarm.
He hastened to the hall of his ancestors, and received
the embraces of his aged father, worn out with
sorrow and grief, both for the absence of his son,
whom he had considered dead, and for the dreadful
waste inflicted on his fair domain by the devastations
of the worm.
He took no rest until he crossed the river to ex-
amine the worm, as it lay coiled around the base of
the hill, and being a knight of tried valour and sound
discretion, and hearing the fate of all those who had
fallen in the strife, he consulted a Sibyl on the best
means to be pursued to slay the monster.
He was told that he himself had been the cause
of all the misery which had been brought upon the
country, which inceased his grief and strengthened
his resolution. He was also told that he must have
his best suit of mail studded with spear-blades, and,
taking his stand on the rock in the middle of the
river, commend himself to Providence and the might
of his sword, first making a solemn vow, if success-
ful, to slay the first living thing he met, or, if he
failed to do so, the Lords of Lambton for nine
generations would never die in their beds.
He made the solemn vow in the chapel of his
forefathers, and had his coat studded with the blades
of the sharpest spears. He took his stand on the
rock in the middle of the river, and unsheathing his
172 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
trusty sword, which had never failed him in time
of need, he commended himself to the will of Provi-
dence.
At the accustomed hour the worm uncoiled its
lengthened folds, and, leaving the hill, took its usual
course towards Lambton Hall, and approached the
rock where it sometimes reposed. The knight,
nothing dismayed, struck the monster on the head
with all his might and main, but without producing
any other visible effect than irritating and vexing the
worm, which, closing on the knight, clasped its
frightful coils around him, and endeavoured to
strangle him in its poisonous embrace.
The knight was, however, provided against this
dangerous extremity, for, the more closely he was
pressed by the worm, the more deadly were the
wounds inflicted by his coat of spear-blades, until
the river ran with gore.
The strength of the worm diminished as its efforts
increased to destroy the knight, who, seizing a
favourable opportunity, made such a good use of his
sword that be cut the monster in two. The severed
part was immediately carried away by the current,
and the worm, being thus unable to reunite itself,
was, after a long and desperate conflict, destroyed by
the gallantry and courage of the knight of Lambton.
The afflicted household were devoutly engaged
in prayer during the combat, but on the fortunate
issue, the knight, according to promise, blew a blast
THE WORM OF LAMBTON. 173
on his bugle to assure his father of his safety, and
that he might let loose his favourite hound which
was destined to be the sacrifice. The aged father,
forgetting everything but his parental feelings, rushed
forward to embrace his son.
When the knight beheld his father he was over-
whelmed with grief. He could not raise his arm
against his parent, but, hoping that his vow might
be accomplished, and the curse averted by destroying
the next living thing he met, he blew another blast
on his bugle.
His favourite hound broke loose and bounded to
receive his caresses, when the gallant knight, with
grief and reluctance, once more drew his sword,
still reeking with the gore of the monster, and
plunged it into the heart of his faithful companion.
But in vain — the prediction was fulfilled, and the
Sibyl's curse pressed heavily on the house of Lamb-
ton for nine generations.
TllF, OLD WO]\[AN AND THE CROOKED
SIXPEXCE.
An old woman was swooping her houso, ;uul she
found a crooked sixpence.
" What," says she, *' shall I do with this sixjionce 1
I will go to the market and buy a pig with it."
She went ; and as she was coming home she
came to a stile. Now the ]ng would not go over
the stile. The woman wont on a little further and
met a dog —
"Dog," said she, "bite pig. l^iggy won't go
over the stile, and I shan't get home to-night."
But the dog would not bite the pig. The woman
went on a little further, and she met a stick.
" Stick," said she, " boat dog. Dog won't bite
pig, piggy won't go over stile, and I shan't get homo
to-night."
But the stick would not. The woman went on
a little further, and she met a fire.
" Fire." said she, " burn stick. Stick won't beat
dog, dog won't bite pig, piggy won't go ovoi- the
stile, and I shan't get home to-night."
174
THE OLD WOMAN AND -THE CROOKED SIXPENCE. 175
But the fire would not. The woman went on a
little further and she met some water.
" Water," said she, " quench fire. Fire won't burn
stick, stick won't beat dog," etc.
But the water would not. The woman went on
a little further, and she met an ox.
"Ox," said she, "drink water. Water won't quench
fire," etc.
But the ox would not. The woman went on
again, and she met a butcher.
" Butcher," said she, " kill ox. Ox won't drink
water," etc.
But the butcher would not. The woman went
on a little further, and met a rope.
" Rope," said she, " hang butcher. Butcher won't
kill ox," etc.
But the rope would not. Again the woman went
on, and she met a rat,
"Rat," said she, "gnaw rope. Rope won't hang
butcher," etc.
But the rat would not. The woman went on a
little further, and met a cat.
" Cat," said she, " kill rat. Rat Avon't gnaw rope,"
etc.
" Oh," said the cat, " I will kill the rat if you
will fetch me a basin of milk from the cow over
there."
The old woman went to the cow and asked her
to let her have some milk for the cat.
176 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
•* No," said the cow ; "I will let you have no
milk unless you bring me a mouthful of hay from
yonder stack."
Awaj' went the old woman to the stack and
fetched the hay and gave it to the cow. Then the
cow gave her some milk, and the old woman took
it to the cat.
"When the cat had lapped the milk, the cat began
to kill the rat, the rat began to gnaw the rope, the
rope began to hang the butcher, the butcher began
to kill the ox, the ox began to di-iuk the water, the
water began to quench the fire, the fire began to burn
the stick, the stick began to beat the dog, the dog
began to bite the pig, and piggy, in a fright, jumped
over the stile, and so, after all, the old woman got
safe home that night.
THE YOKKSHIRE BOGGART.
A BOGGART intruded himself, upon what pretext or
by what authority is unknown, into the house of a
quiet, inoffensive, and laborious farmer ; and, when
once it had taken possession, it disputed the right
of domicile mth the legal mortal tenant, in a very
unneighbourly and arbitrary manner. In particular,
it seemed to have a great aversion to children. As
there is no point on which a parent feels more
acutely than that of the maltreatment of his off-
spring, the feelings of the father, and more parti-
cularly of his good dame, were daily, ay, and nightly,
harrowed up by the malice of this malignant and
invisible bosgart (a boggart is seldom visible to the
human eye, though it is frequently seen by cattle,
particularly by horses, and then they are said to
" take the boggle,'' a Yorkshireism for a shying horse).
The children's bread and butter would be snatched
away, or their porringers of bread and milk would
be dashed down by an invisible hand ; or if they
were left alone for a few minutes, they were sure
to be found screaming with terror on the return
■ of the parents, like the fanner's children in the tale
English. M
178 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
of the Field of Terrw, whom the " drudging goblin "
used to torment and frighten when he was left alone
with them.
The stairs led up from the kitchen ; a partition
of boards covered the ends of the steps, and formed
a closet beneath the staircase ; a large round knot
was accidentally displaced from one of the boards of
this partition. One day the farmer's youngest boy
was playing with the shoe-horn, and, as children
will do, he stuck the horn into this knot-hole.
Whether the aperture had been found by the bog-
gart as a peep-hole to watch the motions of the
family, or whether he wished to amuse himself, is
uncertain, but sure it is the horn was thrown back
with surprising precision at the head of the child.
It was found that as often as the horn was replaced
in the hole, so surely it was ejected with a straight
aim at the offender's head. Time at length made
familiar this wonderful occurrence, and that which at
the first was regarded with terror, became at length
a kind of amusement with the more thoughtless and
daring of the family. Often was the horn slipped
slyly into the hole, and the boggart never failed to
dart it out at the head of one or the other, but
most commonly he or she who placed it there was
the mark at which the invisible foe launched the
offending horn. They used to call this, in their
provincial dialect, "laking wit boggart," i.e., playing
with the boggart. As if enraged at these liberties
THE YORKSHIRE BOGGART. 179
taken with his boggartship, the goblin commenced
a series of night disturbances. Heavy steps, as of
a person in wooden clogs, were often heard clattering
down the stairs in the dead hour of darkness, and
the pewter and earthen dishes appeared to be dashed
on the kitchen floor, though, in the morning, all
were found uninjured on their respective shelves.
The children were chiefly marked out as objects
of dislike by their unearthly tormenter. The curtains
of their beds would be violently pulled backward
and forward. Anon, a heavy weight, as of a human
being, would press them nearly to suff'ocation. They
would then scream out for their " daddy " and
"mammy," who occupied the adjoining room, and
thus the whole family was disturbed night after
night. Things could not long go on after this
fashion. The farmer and his good dame resolved
to leave a place where they had not the least
shadow of rest or comfort.
The farmer, whose name was George Gilbertson,
was following, with his wife and family, the last load
of furniture, when they met a neighbouring farmer,
whose name was John Marshall, between whom and
the unhappy tenant the following colloquy took
place —
" Well, George, and soa you 're leaving t' ould
hoose at last 1 "
" Heigh, Johnny, ma lad, I 'm forc'd till it, for
that boggart torments us soa we can neither rest
180 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
neet nor day for 't. It seems loike to have such a
malice again' t poor bairns. It ommost kills my
poor dame here at thoughts on 't, and soa, ye see,
we 're forc'd to flitt like."
He had gut thus far in his complaint when, behold !
a shrill voice, from a deep upright churn, called
out —
" Ay, ay, George, we 're Hitting, you see."
"Confound thee," says the poor farmer, "if I'd
known thou 'd been there I wadn't ha stirrid a peg.
Nay, nay, it 's to na use, Mally," turning to his wife,
" we may as weel turn back again to t' ould hoose,
as be tormented in another that's not sa con-
venient.''
They are said to have turned back, but the
boggart and they afterwards came to a better under-
standing, though it long continued its trick of
shootiuir the horn from the knot-hole.
THE DUERGAR.
The following encounters with the duergar, a species
of mischievous elves, are said to have taken place
on Simonside Hills, a mountainous district between
Rothbury and Eisdon in Northumberland.
A person well acquainted with the locality went
out one night to amuse himself with the pranks of
these mysterious beings. When he had wandered
a considerable time, he shouted loudly —
" Tint ! tint ! " and a light appeared before him,
like a burning candle in the window of a shepherd's
cottage. Thither, Avith great caution, he bent his
steps, and speedily approached a deep slough, from
whence a quantity of moss or peat had been ex-
cavated, and which was now filled with mud and
water. Into this he threw a piece of turf which he
raised at his feet, and when the sound of the splash
echoed throughout the surrounding stillness, the
decoying light was extinguished. The adventurer
retraced his steps, overjoyed at his dexterity in
outAvitting the fiendish imps, and in a moment of
exultation, as if he held all the powers of darkness
181
182 ENGLISH FOLKLORE,
in defiance, he again cried to the full extent of his
voice —
"Tint! tint!"
His egotism subsided, however, more quickly
than it arose, when he observed three of the little
demons, with hideous visages, approach him, carrying
torches in their diminutive hands, as if they wished
to inspect the figure of their enemy. He now
betook himself to the speed of his heels for safety,
but found that an innumerable multitude of the
same species were gathering round him, each with a
torch in one hand and a short club in the other,
which they brandished with such gestures, as if they
were resolved to oppose his flight, and drive him
back into the morass. Like a knight of romance
he charged with his oaken staff the foremost of his
foes, striking them, as it seemed, to the earth, for they
disappeared, but his offensive weapon encountered
in its descent no substance of flesh or bone, and
beyond its sweep the demons appeared to augment
both in size and number. On witnessing so much
of the unearthly, his heart failed him. He sank
down in a state of stupor, nor was he himself again
till the gray light of the morning dispersed his
unhallowed opponents, and revealed before him the
direct way to his own dwelling.
Another time, a traveller, wandering over these
mountain solitudes, had the misfortune to be
benighted, and, perceiving near him a glimmering
THE DUERGAE. 183
light, he hastened thither and found what appeared
to be a hut, on the floor of which, between two
rough, gray stones, the embers of a fire, which had
been supplied with wood, were still glowing and
unconsumed. He entered, and the impression on
his mind was that the place had been deserted an
hour or two previously by gipsies, for on one side
lay a couple of old gate-posts ready to be split up
for fuel, and a quantity of refuse brush-wood, such
as is left from besom making, was strewn upon the
floor. With this material he trimmed the fire, and
had just seated himself on one of the stones, when
a diminutive figure in human shape, not higher than
his knee, came waddling in at the door, and took
possession of the other. The traveller, being ac-
quainted with the manner in which things of this
description ought to be regarded, retained his self-
possession, kept his seat, and remained silent, know-
ing that if he rose up or spoke, his danger would be
redoubled, and as the flame blazed up he examined
minutely the hollow eyes, the stern vindictive
features, and the short, strong limbs, of the visitor
before him. By degrees he perceived that the hut
afibrded little or no shelter from the cold night air,
and as the energy of the fire subsided he lifted from
the floor a piece of wood, broke it over his knee,
and laid the fragments upon the red-hot embers.
Whether this operation was regarded by his strange
neighbour as a species of insult we cannot say, but
184 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
the demon seized, as if in bitter mockery, one of the
gate-posts, broke it likewise over its knee, and laid
the pieces on the embers in the same manner. The
other having no wish to witness a further display
of such marvellous agency, thenceforth permitted
the fire to die away, and kept his position in dark-
ness and silence, till the fair dawn of returning day
made him aware of the extreme danger to which he
was exposed. He saw a quantity of white ashes
before him, but the grim dAvarfish intruder, with the
roof and walls of the hut, were gone, and he himself,
sat upon a stone, sure enough, but it formed one of
the points of a deep, rugged precipice, over which
the slightest inadvertent movement had been the
means of dashing him to pieces.
THE BARN ELVES.
An honest Hampshire farmer was sore distressed by
the nightly unsettling of his barn. However
straightly, over night, he laid his sheaves on the
threshing floor, for the application of the morning's
flail, when morning came all was topsy-turvy,
higgledy-piggledy, though the door remained locked,
and there was no sign whatever of irregular entry.
Eesolved to find out who played him these
mischievous pranks, Hodge couched himself one
night deeply among the sheaves, and watched for
the enemy. At length midnight arrived. The barn
was illuminated as if by moonbeams of wonderful
brightness, and through the keyhole came thousands
of elves, the most diminutive that could be imagined.
They immediately began their gambols among the
straw, which was soon in the most admired disorder.
Hodge wondered, but interfered not, but at last the
supernatural thieves began to busy themselves in a
way still less to his taste, for each elf set about
conveying the crop away, a straw at a time, with
astonishing activity and perseverance. The key-
hole was still their port of egress and regress, and it
185
186 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
resembled the aperture of a beehive, on a sunny day
in June. The farmer was rather annoyed at seeing
his grain vanish in this fashion, when one of the
fairies, while hard at work, said to another, in the
tiniest voice that ever was heard —
" I weat ; you weat 1 " (I sweat ; do you sweat 1)
Hodge could contain himself no longer. He
leapt out, crying —
'•' The deuce sweat ye ! Let me get among ye."
The fairies all flew away so frightened that they
never disturbed the barn any more.
LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR.
Immemorial tradition has asserted that King Arthur,
his queen Guinevere, court of lords and ladies, and his
hounds, were enchanted in some cave of the crags,
or in a hall below the castle of Sewingshields, and
would continue entranced there till some one should
first blow a bugle-horn that lay on a table near the
entrance into the hall, and then " with the sword of
stone" cut a garter, also placed there beside it. But
none had ever heard where the entrance to this en-
chanted hall was, till a farmer at Sewingshields,
about fifty years since, was sitting knitting on the
ruins of the castle, and his clew fell and ran down-
wards through a bush of briars and nettles, as he
supposed, into a deep subterranean passage. Full
in the faith that the entrance into King Arthur's
hall was now discovered, he cleared the briary portal
of its weeds and rubbish, and entering a vaulted
passage, followed, in his darkling way, the web of his
clew. The floor was infested with toads and lizards,
and the dark wings of bats, disturbed by his un-
hallowed intrusion, flitted fearfully around him.
At length his sinking faith was strengthened by a
IS.'
188 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
dim, distant light, wliich, as he advanced, grew
gradually lighter, till, all at once, he entered a vast
and vaulted hall, in the centre of which a fire with-
out fuel, from a broad crevice in the floor, blazed
with a high and lambent flame, that showed all the
carved walls and fretted roof, and the monarch and
his queen and court reposing around in a theatre of
thrones and costly couches. On the floor, beyond
the fire, lay the faithful and deep-toned pack of
thirty couple of hounds, and on the table, before it,
the spell-dissolving horn, sword, and garter. The
farmer reverently but firmly grasped the s^vord, and
as he drew it leisurely from its rusty scabbard, the
eyes of the monarch and his courtiers began to
open, and they rose till they sat upright. He cut
the garter, and, as the sword was being slowlj-
sheathed, the spell assumed its ancient power, and
they all gradually sank to rest, but not before the
monarch lifted up his ej^es and hands, and ex-
claimed—
" 0 woe betide that evil clay
On which this witless wight was born
Who drew the sword — the garter cut,
But never blew the busle-horn."
'O'
Of this favourite tradition, the most remarkable
variation is respecting the place where the farmer
descended. Some say that after the king's denun-
ciation, terror brought on loss of memory, and the
farmer was unable to give any correct account of
LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR. 189
his adventure, or the place where it occurred. All
agree that Mrs. Spearman, the wife of another and
more recent occupier of the estate, had a dream in
which she saw a rich hoard of treasure among the
ruins of the castle, and that for many days together
she stood over workmen employed in searching for
it, but without success.
Another version of the story has less of " the
pomp of sceptred state " than the preceding, and
has evidently sprung from a baser original, but its
verity is not the less to be depended upon.
A shepherd one day, in quest of a strayed sheep
on the crags, had his attention aroused by the scene
around him assuming an appearance he had never
before witnessed. There seemed to be about it a
more than wonted vividness, and such a deep
solemnity hung over its aspect, that its features
became, as it were, palpably impressed upon his
mind. While he was musing upon this unexpected
occurrence, his steps were arrested by a ball of
thread. This he laid hold of, and, pursuing the
path it pointed out, found it led into a cavern, in
the recesses of which, as the guiding line used by
miners in their explorations of devious passages, it
appeared to lose itself. As he approached, he felt
perforce constrained to follow the strange conductor,
that had so marvellously come into his hands. After
passing through a long and dreary vestibule, he en-
tered into an apartment in the interior. An immense
190 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
fire blazed on the hearth, and cast its broad flashes
with a wild, unearthly glare, to the remotest corner
of the chamber. Over it was placed a huge caldron,
as if preparations were being made for a feast on an
extensive scale. Two hounds lay couchant on either
side of the fire-place, in the stillness of unbroken
slumber. The only remarkable piece of furniture in
the apartment was a table covered with green cloth.
At the head of the table, a being, considerably ad-
vanced in years, of a dignified mien, and clad in the
habiliments of war, sat, as it were, fast asleep, in an
arm-chair. At the other end of the table lay a horn
and a sword. Notwithstanding these signs of life,
there prevailed a dead silence throughout the cham-
ber, the very feeling of which made the shepherd
reflect that he had advanced far beyond the limits
of human experience, and that he was now in the
presence of objects that belonged more to death than
to life. The very idea made his flesh creep. He,
however, had sufficient fortitude to advance to the
table and lift the horn. The hounds pricked up
their ears most fearfully, and the grisly veteran
started up on his elbow, and raising his half-
unwilling eyes, told the staggered hind that if he
would blow the horn and draw the sword, he would
confer upon him the honours of knighthood to last
through time. Such unheard-of dignities, from a
source so ghastly, either met with no appreciation
from the awe-stricken swain, or the terror of finding
LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR. 191
himself alone in the company, it might be of malig-
nant phantoms, who were only tempting him to his
ruin, became too urgent to be resisted, and, there-
fore, proposing to divide the peril with a comrade,
he groped his darkling way, as best his quaking
limbs could support him, back to the blessed day-
light. On his return, with a reinforcement of strength
and courage, all traces of the former scene had dis-
appeared. The crags presented their usual cheerful
and quiet aspect, and every vestige of the opening
of a cavern was obliterated. Thus failed another
of the repeated opportunities for releasing the spell-
bound king of Britain from the " charmed sleep of
ages." Within his rocky chamber he still sleeps
on, as tradition tells, till the appointed hour ; or if
invited by his enchantress to participate in the
illusions of the fairy festival, it has charms for him
no longer. " Wasted with care," he sits beside her
— the banquet untasted — the pageantry unmasked —
" . . . By constraint
Her guest, and from his native land withheld
By sad necessity."
SILKY.
About the commencement of the present centur}-
the inhabitants of the quiet village of Black Heddon,
near Stamfordham, and of its vicinity, who lived,
as most other villagers do, Avith all possible harmony
amongst themselves, and relishing no more external
disturbance than was consistent with their gentle
and sequestered mode of existence, were dreadfully
annoyed by the pranks of a preternatural being
called Silky. This name it had obtained from its
manifesting a marked predilection to make itself
visible in the semblance of a female dressed in silk.
Many a time, when one of the more timorous of the
community had a night journey to perform, have
they unawares and invisibly been dogged and
watched by this spectral tormentor, who, at the
dreariest part of the road — the most suitable for
thrilling surprises — would suddenly break forth in
dazzling splendour. If the person happened to be
on horseback, a sort of exercise for which she
evinced a strong partiality, she would unexpectedly
seat herself behind, "rattling in her silks." There,
after enjoying a comfortable ride, with instantaneous
192
SILKY. 193
abruptness she would, like a thing destitute of con-
tinuity, dissolve away and become incorporate with
the nocturnal shades, leaving the bewildered horse-
man in blank amazement.
At Belsay, some two or three miles from Black
Heddon, she had a favourite resort. This was a
romantic crag finely studded with trees, under the
gloomy umbrage of which, "like one forlorn," she
loved to wander all the live-long night. Here often
has the belated peasant, with awe-stricken vision,
beheld her dimly through the sombre twilight as if
engaged in splitting great stones, or hewing with
many a repeated stroke some stately " monarch of
the grove." While he thus stood and gazed, and
listened to intimations, impossible to be misappre-
hended, of the dread reality of that mysterious being,
concerning whom so va.rious conjectures were awake,
all at once, excited by that wondrous agency, he
would hear the howling of a resistless tempest rush-
ing through the woodland — the branches creaking
in violent concussion, or rent into pieces by the
impetuous fury of the blast — while, to the eye, not
a leaf was seen to quiver, or a pensile spray to
bend. The bottom of this crag is washed by a
picturesque lake or fish-pond, at whose outlet is a
waterfall, over which a venerable tree, sweeping its
leafy arms, adds impressiveness to the scene. Amid
the complicated and contorted limbs of this tree,
Silky possessed a rude chair, where she was wont, in
English. N
194 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
her moody moments, to sit — wind-rocked — enjoying
the rustling of the storm in the dark woods, or the
gush of the cascade. The tree, so consecrated in the
sympathies and terrors of the people of the vicinity,
has been preserved. Though now (1842) no longer
tenanted by its aerial visitant, it yet spreads majes-
tically its time-hallowed canopy over the spot,
awakening in the love-versed rustic, when the
winter's wind waves gusty and sonorous through its
leafless boughs, the soul-harrowing recollection of
the exploits of the ancient fay, — but in the spring-
time, beautiful with the full-flushed verdure of that
exuberant season, recipient of the kindling emotions
of reverence and aff"ection. It still bears the name
of " Silky's seat," in memory of its once wonderful
occupant.
Silky exercised a marvellous influence over the
brute creation. Horses, which indisputably possess
a discernment of spirits superior to that of man, and
are more sharp-sighted in the dark, were in an ex-
traordinary degree sensitive of her presence and con-
trol. Having once perceived the efi"ects of her
power she seems to have had a perverse pleasure
in meddling with and arresting those poor defence-
less animals, while engaged in the most exemplary
performance of their labours. When this misfortune
occurred there was no remedy that brute-force could
devise. Expostulation, soothing, whipping, and
kicking, were all exerted in vain to make the restive
SILKY. 195
beast resume the proper and intended direction.
The ultimate resource, unless it might be the whim
of Silky to revoke the spell, was the magic dispelling
witchwood, which, it is satisfactory to learn, was of
unfailing efficacy. One poor Avight, a farm-servant,
was once the selected victim of her mischievous
frolics. He had to go to a colliery at some distance
for coals, and it was late in the evening before he
could return. Silky, with spirit-like prescience,
having intimation of the circumstance, waylaid him
at a bridge — a "ghastly, ghost-alluring edifice,"
since called " Silky's Brig," lying a little to the
south of Black Heddon, on the road between that
place and Stamfordham. Just as he had arrived at
"the height of that bad eminence," the keystone,
horses and cart became fixed and immovable as
fate. In that melancholy plight might both man
and horses have continued — quaking, and sweating,
and paralysed — till the morning light had thrown
around them its mantle of protection — had not a
neighbour's servant come to the rescue, who oppor-
tunely carried some of the potent witchwood
(mountain-ash) about his person. On the arrival
of this seasonable aid, the perplexed driver rallied
his scattered senses, and the helpless animals, being
duly seasoned after the fashion prescribed on such
occasions, he had the heart-felt satisfaction of seeing
them apply themselves, with the customary alacrity,
to the draught. The charm was eftectually over-
196 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
come, aud iu a short time both the man and the
coals reached home iu safety. Ever afterwards,
however, as long as he lived, he took the precaution
of rendering himself spell-proof, by being furnished
with a sufficient quantity of witchwood, being by
no means disposed that Silky should a second
time amuse herself at his expense and that of his
team.
She was wayward and capricious. Sometimes
she installed herself in the office of that old familiar
Lar — Brownie, but, with characteristic misdirection,
in a manner exactly the reverse of that useful
species of hobgoblin. Here it may be remarked
that, throughout her disembodied career, she can
scarcely be said to have performed one benevolent
action for the sake of its moral qualities. She had,
from first to last, a perpetual latent hankering for
mischief, and gloried in withering surprises and un-
foreseen movements. As is customary with that
" sturdy fairy," as she is designated by the great
English Lexicographer, her Avorks were performed
at night, or between the hours of sunset and day-
dawn. If the good old dames had thoroughly cleaned
their houses, which country people make a practice
of doing, especially on Saturdays, so that they may
have a comfortable and decent ap})earance on the
Sabbath-day, after they had retired to rest. Silky
would silently turn everything topsy-turvy, and the
morning presented a scene of indescribable confusion.
SILKY. 197
On the contrary, if the house had been left in a
disorderly state, a jilau which the folk generally
found it best to adopt, everything would have been
arranged with the greatest nicety.
At length a term had arrived to her erratic course,
and both she and the peaceably disposed inhabitants
whom she disquieted obtained the repose so long
mutually desired. She abruptly disappeared. It
had long been surmised, by those who paid attention
to those dark matters, that she was the troubled
phantom of some person, who had died very
miserable, in consequence of having great treasure,
which, before being taken by her mortal agony, had
not been disclosed, and on that account Silky could
not rest in her grave. About the period referred to
a domestic female servant being alone in one of the
rooms of a house in Black Heddon, was frightfully
alarmed by the ceiling above suddenly giving way,
and from it there dropped, with a prodigious clash,
something quite black, shapeless, and uncouth. The
servant did not stop to scrutinise an object so
hideous and startling, but fled to her mistress,
screaming at the pitch of her voice —
" The deevil 's in the house ! The deevil 's in the
house ! He 's come through the ceiling ! "
With this terrible announcement the whole family
were speedily convoked, and great was the consterna-
tion at the idea of the foe of mankind being amongst
them in visible form. In this appalling extremity,
i
198 ENGLISH FOLKLORE.
a considerable time elapsed before any one could
brace up courage to face the enemy, or be prevailed
on to go and inspect the cause of their alarm. At
last the mistress, who chanced to be the most stout-
hearted, ventured into the room when, instead of
the personage, on account of whom such awful
apprehensions were entertained, a great dog or calf-
skin lay on the floor, sufficiently black and uncomely,
but filled with gold.
After this Silky was never more heard or seen.
Her destiny was accomplished, her spirit laid, and
she now sleeps with her ancestors.
Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty,
at the Edinlmrgh University Press,
CONTENTS
Canobie Dick and Thomas of Ercildoiin,
1
Coinnach Oer, .....
5
Elpliin Irving, ......
9
The Ghosts of Craig- Aulnaic, .
32
The Doomed Rider, ....
39
Whippety Stourie, ' \.
43
The Weird of the Three Arrows,
46
The Laird of Balmachie's Wife,
52
Michael Scott, .....
55
The Minister and the Fairy,
63
The Fisherman and the Merman,
66
The Laird o' Co', ....
70
Ewen of the Little Head,
72
Jock and his Mother, ....
76
Saint Columba, .....
80
The Mermaid Wife, ....
86
The Fiddler and the Bogle of Bogandoran,
89
Thomas the Rhymer, ....
93
Vlll CONTENTS.
PAGE
Fairy Friends, ...... 98
The Seal-catcher's Adventure,
101
The Fairies of Merlin's Craig,
106
Kory Macgillivray,
. 109
The Haunted Ships,
114
The Brownie,
140
Mauns' Stane, .
143
"Horse and Hattock," .
151
Secret Commonwealth, .
154
The Fairy Boy of Leith,
170
The Dracse,
173
Lord Tarbat's Relations,
175
The Bogle,
184
Daoine Shie, or the Men of Peace,
185
The Death "Bree,"
189
CANOBIE DICK AND THOMAS OF
EECILDOUN.
Now it claanced many years since that there lived
on the Borders a jolly rattling horse-cowper, who
was remarkable for a reckless and fearless temper,
which made him much admired and a little dreaded
amongst his neighbours. One moonlight night, as
he rode over Bowden Moor, on the west side of the
Eildon Hills, the scene of Thomas the Ehymer's
prophecies, and often mentioned in his history,
having a brace of horses along with him, which he
had not been able to dispose of, he met a man of
venerable appearance and singularly antique dress,
who, to his great surprise, asked the price of his
horses, and began to chaffer with him on the subject.
To Canobie Dick, for so shall we call our Border
dealer, a chap was a chap, and he would have sold a
horse to the devil himself, without minding his
cloven hoof, and would have probably cheated Old
Nick into the bargain. The stranger paid the price
they agreed on, and all that puzzled Dick in the
transaction was, that the gold which he received was
Scotch. A
2 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
ill unicorns, bonnet-pieces, and other ancient coins,
which would have been invahiable to collectors, but
were rather troublesome in modern currency. It
was gold, however, and therefore Dick contrived to
get better value for the coin than he perhaps gave
to his customer. By the command of so good a
merchant, he brought horses to the same spot more
than once ; the purchaser only stipulating that he
should always come by night and alone. I do not
know whether it was from mere curiosity, or whether
some hope of gain mixed with it, but after Dick had
sold several horses in this yvtiy, he began to complain
that dry bargains were unlucky, and to hint, that
since his chap must live in the neighbourhood, he
ought, in the courtesy of dealing, to treat him to
half a mutchkin.
" You may see my dwelling if you will," said the
stranger ; " but if you lose courage at what you see
there, you will rue it all your life."
Dickon, however, laughed the warning to scorn,
and having alighted to secure his horse, he folloAved
the stranger up a narrow footpath, which led them
up the hills to the singular eminence stuck betwixt
the most southern and the centre peaks, and called,
from its resemblance to such an animal in its form,
the Lucken Hare. At the foot of this eminence,
which is almost as famous for witch-meetings as the
neighbouring windmill of Kippilaw, Dick was some-
what startled to observe that his conductor entered
CANOBIE DICK AND THOMAS OF EllGILDOUN. 3
the hillside by a passage or cavern, of which he
himself, though well acquainted with the spot, had
never seen nor heard.
"You may still return," said his guide, looking
ominously back upon him; but Dick scorned to
show the white feather, and on they went. They
entered a very long range of stables ; in every stall
stood a coal-black horse ; by every horse lay a knight
in coal-black armour, Avith a drawn sword in his
hand ; but all were as silent, hoof and limb, as if
they had been cut out of marble. A great number
of torches lent a gloomy lustre to the hall, which,
like those of the Caliph Vathek, Avas of large dimen-
sions. At the upper end, however, they at length
arrived, where a sword and horn lay on an antique
table.
" He that shall sound that horn and draw that
sword," said the stranger, who now intimated that
he Avas the famous Thomas of Ercildoun, " shall, if
his heart fail him not, be king over all broad Britain.
So speaks the tongue that cannot lie. But all de-
pends on courage, and much on your taking the
sword or horn first."
Dick was much disposed to take the sword, but
his bold spirit AA'^as quailed by the supernatural
terrors of the hall, and he thought to unsheathe the
SAVord first might be construed into defiance, and
give offence to the powers of the mountain. He
took the bugle with a trembling hand, and blcAv a
4 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
feeble note, but loud enough to produce a terrible
answer. Thunder rolled in stunning peals through
the immense hall ; horses and men started to life ;
the steeds snorted, stamped, ground their bits, and
tossed their heads ; the warriors sprang to their
feet, clashed their armour, and brandished their
swords, Dick's terror was extreme at seeing the
whole army, which had been so lately silent as the
grave, in uproar, and about to rush on him. He
dropped the horn, and made a feeble attempt to
seize the enchanted sword ; but at the same moment
a voice pronounced aloud the mysterious Avords —
" Woe to the coward, that ever he was born.
Who did not draw the sword before he blew the horn ! "
At the same time a whirlwind of irresistible fury
howled through the long hall, bore the unfortunate
horse-jockey clear out of the mouth of the cavei'n,
and precipitated him over a steep bank of loose
stones, where the shepherds found him the next
morning, with just breath sufficient to tell his fearful
tale, after concluding which he expired.
COINNACH OEE.
CoiNNACH Oer, which means Dun Kenneth, ^vas a
celebrated man in his generation. He has been
called the Isaiah of the North. The prophecies of
this man are very frequently alluded to and quoted
in various parts of the Highlands ; although little is
known of the man himself, except in Ross-shire.
He was a small farmer in Strathpeffer, near Ding-
wall, and for many years of his life neither ex-
hibited any talents, nor claimed any intelligence
above his fellows. The manner in which he obtained
the prophetic gift was told by himself in the follow-
ing manner : —
As he was one day at work in the hill casting
(digging) peats, he heard a voice which seemed to
call to him out of the air. It commanded him to
dig under a little green knoll which was near, and
to gather up the small white stones which he would
discover beneath the turf. The voice informed him,
at the same time, that while he kept these stones in
his possession, he should be endued with the power
of supernatural foreknowledge.
6 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
Kenneth, though greatly alarmed at this aerial
conversation, followed the directions of his invisible
instructor, and turning up the turf on the hillock,
in a little time discovered the talismans. From
that day forward, the mind of Kenneth was illumi-
nated by gleams of unearthly light ; and he made
many predictions, of which the credulity of the
peojDle, and the coincidence of accident, often sup-
plied confirmation ; and he certainly became the
most notable of the Highland prophets. The most
remarkable and Avell known of his vaticinations is
the following : — " Whenever a M'Lean with long
hands, a Fraser with a black spot on his face, a
M'Gregor with a black knee, and a club-footed
M'Leod of Kaga, shall have existed ; whenever
there shall have been successively three M'Donalds
of the name of John, and three M'Kinnons of the
same Christian name, — oppressors will appear in
the country, and the people will change their own
land for a strange one." All these personages have
appeared since ; and it is the common opinion of
the peasantry, that the consummation of the pro-
phecy was fulfilled, when the exaction of the exor-
bitant rents reduced the Highlanders to poverty,
and the introduction of the sheep banished the
people to America.
Whatever might have been the gift of Kenneth
Oer, he does not appear to have used it with an ex-
traordinary degree of discretion ; and the last time he
COINNACH OER. 7
exercised it, he was very uear paying dear for liis
divination.
On this occasion he happened to be at some
high festival of the M'Kenzies at Castle Braan. One
of the guests was so exhilarated by the scene of
gaiety, that he could not forbear an eulogium on
the gallantry of the feast, and the nobleness of the
guests. Kenneth, it appears, had no regard for the
M'Kenzies, and was so provoked by this sally in
their praise, that he not only brolce out into a
severe satire against their whole race, but gave vent
to the prophetic denunciation of wrath and confusion
upon their posterity. The guests being informed
(or having overheard a part) of this rhapsody, in-
stantly rose up with one accord to punish the con-
tumely of the prophet. Kenneth, though he fore-
told the fate of others, did not in any manner look
into that of himself ; for this reason, being doubtful
of debating the propriety of his prediction upon
such unequal terms, he fled with the greatest pre-
cipitation. The M'Kenzies followed with infinite
zeal ; and more than one ball had whistled over the
head of the seer before he reached Loch Ousie. The
consequences of this prediction so disgusted Ken-
neth with any further exercise of his prophetic
calling, that, in the anguish of his flight, he solemnly
renounced all communication with its power ; and,
as he ran along the margin of Loch Ousie, he took
out the wonderful pebbles, and cast them in a fury
8 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
into the water. Whether his evil genius had now
forsake?! him, or his condition was better than that
of his pursuers, is unknown, but certain it is, Ken-
neth, after the sacrifice of the pebbles, outstripped
his enraged enemies, and never, so far as I have
heard, made any attempt at prophecy from the
hour of his escape,
Kenneth Oer had a son, who was called Ian Dubh
Mac Coinnach (Black John, the son of Kenneth),
and lived in the village of Miltoun, near Dingwall.
His chief occupation was brewing Avhisky ; and he
was killed in a fray at Miltoun, early in the present
century. His exit would not have formed the
catastrophe of an epic poem, and appears to have
been one of those events of which his father had
no intelligence, for it happened in the following
manner : —
Having fallen into a dispute with a man with
whom he had previously been on friendly terms,
they proceeded to blows ; in the scufile, the boy, the
son of lan's adversary, observing the two combat-
ants locked in a close and firm gripe of eager con-
tention, and being doubtful of the event, ran into
the house and brought out the iron pot-crook, with
which he saluted the head of the unfortunate Ian so
severely, that he not only relinquished his combat,
but departed this life on the ensuing morning.
ELPHIN lEVINa,
THE fairies' cupbearer.
" The lady kilted her kirtle green
A little aboon her knee,
The lady snooded her yellow hair
A little aboon her bree,
And she 's gane to the good greenwood
As fast as she could hie.
And first she let the black steed pass,
And syne she let the browu.
And then she flew to the milk-white steed,
And pulled the rider down :
Syne out then sang the queen o' the fairies,
Frae midst a bank of broom,
She that has won him, young Tamlane,
Has gotten a gallant groom."
Old Ballad.
"The romantic vale of Corriewater, in Annandale,
is regarded by the inhabitants, a pastoral and un-
mingled jDeople, as the last border refuge of those
beautiful and capricious beings, the fairies. Many
old people yet living imagine they have had inter-
course of good words and good deeds with the ' good
folk ' ; and continue to tell that in the ancient
9
10 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
days the fairies danced on the hill, and revelled in
the glen, and showed themselves, like the mysterious
children of the deity of old, among the sons and
dauf^hters of men. Their visits to the earth were
periods of joy and mirth to mankind, rather than of
sorrow and apprehension. They played on musical
instruments of wonderful sweetness and variety of
note, spread unexpected feasts, the supernatural
flavour of which overpowered on many occasions the
religious scruples of the Presbyterian shepherds,
performed wonderful deeds of horsemanship, and
marched in midnight processions, Avhen the sound
of their elfin minstrelsy charmed youths and maidens
into love for their persons and pursuits ; and more
than one femily of Corriewater have the fame of
augmenting the numbers of the elfin chivalry.
Faces of friends and relatives, long since doomed to
the battle-trench or the deep sea, have been recog-
nised by those who dared to gaze on the fairy march.
The maid has seen her lost lover, and the mother her
stolen child ; and the courage to plan and achieve
their deliverance has been possessed by, at least, one
border maiden. In the legends of the people of
Corrievale, there is a singular mixture of elfin and
human adventure, and the traditional story of the
Cupbearer to the Queen of the Fairies appeals alike
to our domestic feelings and imagination.
" In one of the little green loops or bends on the
banks of Corriewater, mouldered walls, and a few
ELPHIN IRVING. 11
stunted wild plum-trees and vagrant roses, still
point out the site of a cottage and garden. A well
of pure spring- water leaps out from an old tree-root
before the door; and here the shepherds, shading
themselves in summer from the influence of the sun,
tell to their children the wild tale of Elphin Irving
and his sister Phemie ; and, singular as the story
seems, it has gained full credence among the people
where the scene is laid."
" I ken the tale and the place weel," interrupted
an old Scottish woman, who, from the predominance
of scarlet in her apparel, seemed to have been a
follower of the camp, — " I ken them weel, and the
tale 's as true as a bullet to its aim and a spark to
powder. 0 bonnie Corriewater, a thousand times
have I pulled gowans on its banks wi' ane that lies
stiff and stark on a foreign shore in a bloody grave ; "
and, sobbing audibly, she drew the remains of a
military cloak over her face, and allowed the story
to proceed.
" When Elphin Irving and his sister Phemie were
in tlieir sixteenth year, for tradition says they were
twins, their father was drowned in Corriewater,
attempting to save his sheep from a sudden swell,
to which all mountain streams are liable ; and their
mother, on the day of her husband's burial, laid
down her head on the pillow, from which, on the
seventh day, it was lifted to be dressed for the same
grave. The inheritance left to the orphans may be
12 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
briefly described : seventeen acres of plough and
pasture land, seven milk cows, and seven pet sheep
(many old people take delight in odd numbers) ;
and to this may be added seven bonnet-pieces of
Scottisli gold, and a broadsword and spear, which
their ancestor had wielded with such strength and
courage in the battle of Dryfe Sands, that the
minstrel who sang of that deed of arms ranked him
only second to the Scotts and Johnstones.
" The youth and his sister grew in stature and in
beauty. The brent bright brow, the clear blue eye,
and frank and blithe deportment of the former gave
him some influence among the young women of the
valley ; Avhile the latter was no less the admiration
of the young men, and at fair and dance, and at
bridal, happy was he who touched but her hand, or
received the benediction of her eye. Like all other
Scottish beauties, she was the theme of many a
song ; and while tradition is yet busy with the
singular history of her brother, song has taken all
the care that rustic minstrelsy can of the gentleness
of her spirit and the charms of her person."
" Now I vow," exclaimed a wandering piper, " by
mine own honoured instrument, and by all other
instruments that ever yielded music for the joy and
delight of mankind, that there are more bonnie songs
made about fair Phemie Irving than about all other
dames of Aunandale, and many of them are both high
and bonnie. A proud lass maun she be if her spirit
ELPHIN IRVING. 13
hears ; and men say the dust lies not insensible of
beautiful verse ; for her chai-ms are breathed through
a thousand sweet lips, and no further gone than
yestermorn I heard a lass singing on a green hill-
side what I shall not readily forget. If ye like to
listen, ye shall judge ; and it will not stay the story
long, nor mar it much, for it is short, and about
Phemie Irving." And, accordingly, he chanted the
following rude verses, not unaccompanied by his
honoured instrument, as he called his pipe, which
chimed in with great effect, and gave richness to a
voice which felt better than it could express : —
PAIR PHEMIE IRVING.
Gay is thy glen, Corrie,
With all thy groves flowering ;
Green is thy glen, Corrie,
When July is showering ;
And sweet is yon wood where
The small birds are bovvering,
And there dwells the sweet one
Whom I am adoring.
Her round neck is whiter
Than winter when snowing ;
Her meek voice is milder
Than Ae in its flowing ;
The glad ground yields music
Where she goes by the river ;
One kind glance would charm me
For ever and ever.
The proud and the wealthy
To Phemie are bowing ;
No looks of love win they
With sighing or suing ;
14 SCOTCH FOLKf.ORE TALES.
Far away mauu I stand
With my rude wooing,
She 's a flow'ret too lovely
Too bloom for my pu'ing.
Oh were I yoa violet
On which she is walking ;
Oh were I yon small bird
To which she is talking ;
Or yon rose in her hand.
With its ripe ruddy blossom ;
Or some pure gentle thought
To be blest with her bosom.
This minstrel interruption, while it established
Phemie Irving's claim to grace and to beauty, gave
me additional confidence to pursue the story.
"But minstrel skill and true love-tale seemed to
want their usual influence when they sought to win
her attention ; she was only observed to pay most
respect to those youths who were most beloved by
her brother ; and the same hour that brought these
twins to the world seemed to have breathed through
them a sweetness and an affection of heart and
mind Avhich nothing could divide. If, like the
virgin queen of the immortal poet, she walked ' in
maiden meditation fancy free,' her brother Elphin
seemed alike untouched with the charms of the
fairest virgins in Corrie. He ploughed his field, he
reaped his grain, he leaped, he ran, and wrestled,
and danced, and sang, with more skill and life and
grace than all other youths of the district ; but he
had no twilight and stolen interviews; when all
ELPHIN IRVING. 15
other young men had their loves by their side, he
was single, though not unsought, and his joy seemed
never perfect save when his sister was near him. If
he loved to share his time with her, she loved to
share her time Avith him alone, or with the beasts
of the field, or the birds of the air. She watched
her little flock late, and she tended it early ; not for
the sordid love of the fleece, unless it was to make
mantles for her brother, but with the look of one
who had joy in its company. The very wild
creatures, the deer and the hares, seldom sought to
shun her approach, and the bird forsook not its
nest, nor stinted its song, when she drew nigh ;
such is the confidence which maiden innocence and
beauty inspire.
" It happened one summer, about three years
after they became orphans, that rain had been for
a while withheld from the earth, the hillsides began
to parch, the grass in the vales to wither, and the
stream of Corrie was diminished between its banks
to the size of an ordinary rill. The shepherds drove
their flocks to moorlands, and marsh and tarn had
their reeds invaded by the scythe to supply the
cattle with food. The sheep of his sister were
Elphin's constant care ; he drove them to the
moistest pastures during the day, and he often
watched them at midnight, when flocks, tempted by
the sweet dewy grass, are known to broAvse eagerly,
that he might guard them from the fox, and lead
16 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
them to the choicest herbage. In these nocturnal
watchiugs he sometimes drove his little flock over
the water of Corrie, for the fords were hardly ankle-
deep ; or permitted his sheep to cool themselves in
the stream, and taste the grass which grew along
the brink. All this time not a drop of rain fell,
nor did a cloud appear in the sky.
" One evening, during her brother's absence with
the flock, Phemie sat at her cottage-door, listening
to the bleatings of the distant folds and the lessened
murmur of the water of Corrie, now scarcely audible
beyond its banks. Her eyes, weary with watching
along the accustomed line of road for the return of
Elphin, were turned on the pool beside her, in
which the stars were glimmering fitful and faint.
As she looked she imagined the water grew brighter
and brighter; a wild illumination presently shone
upon the pool, and leaped from bank to bank, and
suddenly changing into a human form, ascended
the margin, and, passing her, glided swiftly into the
cottage. The visionary form was so like her brother
in shape and air, that, starting up, she flew into the
house, with the hope of finding him in his customary
seat. She found him not, and, impressed with the
terror which a wraith or apparition seldom fails to
inspire, she uttered a shriek so loud and so piercing
as to be heard at Johnstone Bank, on the other
side of the vale of Corrie."
An old woman now rose suddenly from her seat
ELPHIN IRVING. 17
in the window-sill, the living dread of shepherds,
for she travelled the country with a brilliant reputa-
tion for witchcraft, and thus she broke in upon the
narrative : " I vow, young man, ye tell us the truth
upset and down-thrust. I heard my douce grand-
mother say that on the night when Elphin Irving dis-
appeared— disappeared I shall call it, for the bairn
can but be gone for a season, to return to us in his own
appointed time — she was seated at the fireside at
Johnstone Bank ; the laird had laid aside his bonnet
to take the Book, when a shriek mair loud, believe
me, than a mere woman's shriek — and they can
shriek loud enough, else they 're sair wranged —
came over the water of Corrie, so sharp and shrilling,
that the pewter plates dinneled on the wall ; such a
shriek, my douce grandmother said, as rang in her
ear till the hour of her death, and she lived till she
was aughty-and-aught, forty full ripe years after the
event. But there is another matter, which, doubt-
less, I cannot compel ye to believe : it was the
common rumour that Elphin Irving came not into
the world like the other sinful creatures of the
earth, but was one of the kane-bairns of the fairies,
whilk they had to pay to the enemy of man's salva-
tion every seventh year. The poor lady-fairy — a
mother's aye a mother, be she elves' flesh or Eve's
flesh — hid her elf son beside the christened flesh in
Marion Irving's cradle, and the auld enemy lost his
prey for a time. Now, hasten on with your story,
Scotch. T)
18 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
which is not a bodle the waur for me. The maiden
saw the shape of her brother, fell into a faint, or a
trance, and the neighbours came flocking in — gang
on with your tale, young man, and dinna be
affronted because an auld Avoman helped ye wi 't."
"It is hardly known," I resumed, "how long
Phemie Irving continued in a state of insensibility.
The morning was far advanced, when a neighbour-
ing maiden found her seated in an old chair, as
white as monumental marble ; her hair, about Avhich
she had always been soliQitous, loosened from its
curls, and hanging disordered over her neck and
bosom, her hands and forehead. The maiden
touched the one, and kissed the other ; they were
as cold as snow ; and her eyes, wide open, were
fixed on her brother's empty chair, with the in-
tensity of gaze of one who had witnessed the ap-
pearance of a spirit. She seemed insensible of any
one's presence, and sat fixed and still and motion-
less. The maiden, alarmed at her looks, thus
addressed her : — ' Phemie, lass, Phemie Irving !
Dear me, but this be awful ! I have come to tell
ye that seven of your pet sheep have escaped drown-
ing in the water ; for Corrie, sae quiet and sae
gentle yestreen, is rolling and dashing frae bank to
bank this morning. Dear me, woman, dinna let the
loss of the world's gear bereave ye of your senses.
I would rather make ye a present of a dozen mug-
ewes of the Tinwald brood myself; and now I think
ELPHIN IRVING. 19
on 't, if ye '11 send over Elpliin, I will help him
hame with them in the gloaming myself. So,
Phemie, woman, be comforted.'
" At the mention of her brother's name she cried
out, ' Where is he 1 Oh, where is he 1 ' gazed wildly
round, and, shuddering from head to foot, fell sense-
less on the floor. Other inhabitants of the valley,
alarmed by the sudden swell of the river, which
had augmented to a torrent, deep and impassable,
now came in to inquire if any loss had been sus-
tained, for numbers of sheep and teds of hay had
been observed floating down about the dawn of the
morning. They assisted in reclaiming the unhappy
maiden from her swoon ; but insensibility was joy
compared to the sorrow to Avhich she awakened.
' They have ta'en him away, they have ta'en him
away,' she chanted, in a tone of delirious pathos;
' him that was whiter and fairer than the lily on
Lyddal Lee. They have long sought, and they have
long sued, and they had the power to prevail against
my prayers at last. They have ta'en him away;
the flower is plucked from among the weeds, and
the dove is slain amid a flock of ravens. They came
with shout, and they came with song, and they
spread the charm, and they placed the spell, and
the baptised brow has been bowed down to the
unbaptised hand. They have ta'en him away, they
have ta'en him away ; he was too lovely, and too
good, and too noble, to bless us with his continuance
20 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
on earth ; for what are the sons of men compared
to him ■? — the light of the moonbeam to the morn-
ing sun, the glowworm to the eastern star. They
have ta'en him away, the invisible dwellers of the
earth. I saw them come on him with shouting and
with singing, and they charmed him where he sat,
and away they bore him ; and the horse he rode
was never shod with iron, nor owned before the
mastery of human hand. They have ta'en him
away over the water, and over the wood, and over
the hill. I got but ae look of his bonnie blue ee,
but ae, ae look. But as I have endured what never
maiden endured, so will I undertake what never
maiden undertook, I will win him from them all.
I know the invisible ones of the earth; I have
heard their wild and wondrous music in the wild
woods, and there shall a christened maiden seek
him, and achieve his deliverance.' She paused, and
glancing around a circle of condoling faces, down
which the tears were dropping like rain, said, in a
calm and altered but still delirious tone : ' "Why do
you weep, Mary Halliday 1 and why do you weep,
John Graeme 1 Ye think that Elphin Irving — oh,
it 's a bonnie, bonnie name, and dear to many a
maiden's heart as well as mine — ye think he is
drowned in Corrie ; and ye will seek in the deep,
deep pools for the bonnie, bonnie corse, that ye may
weep over it, as it lies in its last linen, and lay it,
amid weeping and wailing in the dowie kirkyard.
ELPHIN IRVING. 21
Ye may seek, but ye shall never find ; so leave me
to trim up my hair, and prepare my dwelling, and
make myself ready to watch for the hour of his re-
turn to upper earth.' And she resumed her house-
hold labours with an alacrity which lessened not the
sorrow of her friends.
" Meanwhile the rumour flew over the vale that
Elphin Irving was drowned in Corriewater. Matron
and maid, old man and young, collected suddenly
along the banks of the river, which now began to
subside to its natural summer limits, and commenced
their search ; interrupted every now and then by
calling from side to side, and from pool to pool, and
by exclamations of sorrow for this misfortune. The
search was fruitless : five sheep, pertaining to the
flock which he conducted to pasture, were found
drowned in one of the deep eddies ; but the river
was still too brown, from the soil of its moorland
sources, to enable them to see what its deep shelves,
its pools, and its overhanging and hazelly banks
concealed. They remitted further search till the
stream should become pure; and old man taking
old man aside, began to whisper about the mystery
of the youth's disappearance ; old women laid their
lips to the ears of their coevals, and talked of
Elphin Irving's fairy parentage, and his having been
dropped by an unearthly hand into a Christian
cradle. The young men and maids conversed on
other themes ; they grieved for the loss of the
22 SCOTCH FOLKLOKE TALES.
friend and the lover, and while the former thought
that a heart so kind and true was not left in the
vale, the latter thought, as maidens will, on his
handsome person, gentle manners, and merry blue
eye, and speculated with a sigh on the time when they
might have hoped a return for their love. They
were soon joined by others who had heard the wild
and delirious language of his sister : the old belief
was added to the new assurance, and both again
commented upon by minds full of superstitious
feeling, and hearts full of supernatural fears, till the
youths and maidens of Corrievale held no more love
trysts for seven days and nights, lest, like Elphin
Irving, they should be carried away to augment the
ranks of the unchristened chivalry.
" It was curious to listen to the speculations of
the peasantry. ' For my part/ said a youth, ' if I
were sure that poor Elphin escaped from that perilous
water, I would not give the fairies a pound of
hiplock wool for their chance of him. There has
not been a fairy seen in the land since Donald
Cargil, the Cameronian, conjured them into the
Solway for playing on their pipes during one of his
nocturnal preachings on the hip of the Burnswark
hill.'
"'Preserve me, bairn,' said an old woman, justly
exasperated at the incredulity of her nephew, ' if ye
winna believe what I both heard and saw at the
moonlight end of Craigyburnwood on a summer
ELPHIN IRVING. 23
night, rank after rank of the fairy folk, ye '11 at least
believe a douce man and a ghostly professor, even
the late minister of Tinwaldkirk. His only son — I
mind the lad weel, with his long yellow locks and
his bonnie blue eyes — when I was but a gilpie of a
lassie, he was stolen away from off the horse at his
father's elbow, as they crossed that false and fear-
some water, even Locherbriggflow, on the night of
the Midsummer fair of Dumfries. Ay, ay, who
can doubt the truth of that ? Have not the godly
inhabitants of Almsfieldtown and Tinwaldkirk seen
the sweet youth riding at midnight, in the midst of
the unhallowed troop, to the sound of flute and of
dulcimer, and though meikle they prayed, naebody
tried to achieve his deliverance 1 '
" ' I have heard it said by douce folk and spon-
.sible,' interrupted another, ' that every seven years
the elves and fairies pay kane, or make an offering
of one of their children, to the grand enemy of
salvation, and that they are permitted to purloin one
of the children of men to present to the fiend — a
more acceptable offering, I '11 warrant, than one of
their own infernal brood that are Satan's sib allies,
and drink a drop of the deil's blood every May
morning. And touching this lost lad, ye all ken his
mother was a hawk of an uncanny nest, a second
cousin of Kate Kimmer, of Barfloshan, as rank a
witch as ever rode on ragwort. Ay, sirs, what 's
bred in the bone is ill to come out of the flesh.'
24 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
" On these and similar topics, which a peasantry
full of ancient tradition and enthusiasm and super-
stition readily associate with the commonest occui*-
rences of life, the people of Corrievale continued to
converse till the fall of eA-enins:, when each, seekinsr
their home, renewed again the wondrous subject,
and illustrated it with all that popular belief and
poetic imagination could so abundantly supply.
" The night which followed this melancholy day
was wild with wind and rain ; the river came down
broader and deeper than before, and the lightning,
flashing by fits over the green woods of Corrie,
showed the ungovernable and perilous flood sweep-
ing above its banks. It happened that a farmer,
returning from one of the border fairs, encountered
the full swing of the storm ; but mounted on an
excellent horse, and mantled from chin to heel in a
good grey plaid, beneath which he had the further
security of a thick greatcoat, he sat dry in his saddle,
and proceeded in the anticipated joy of a subsided
tempest and a glowing morning sun. As he entered
the long grove, or rather remains of the old Galwegian
forest, which lines for some space the banks of the
Corriewater, the storm began to abate, the wind
sighed milder and milder among the trees, and here
and there a star, twinkling momentarily through
the sudden rack of the clouds, showed the river
rairino; from bank to brae. As he shook the moisture
from his clothes, he was not without a wish that the
ELPHIN IRVING. 25
day would dawn, and that he might be preserved on
a road which his imagination beset with greater
perils than the raging river ; for his superstitious
feeling let loose upon his path elf and goblin, and
the current traditions of the district supplied very
largely to his apprehension the ready materials of
fear.
" Just as he emerged from the wood, where a fine
sloping bank, covered with short greensward, skirts
the limit of the forest, his horse made a full pause,
snorted, trembled, and started from side to side,
stooped his head, erected his ears, and seemed to
scrutinise every tree and bush. The rider, too, it
may be imagined, gazed round and round, and
peered warily into every suspicious-looking place.
His dread of a supernatural visitation was not much
allayed when he observed a female shape seated on
the ground at the root of a huge old oak-tree, which
stood in the centre of one of those patches of
verdant sward, known by the name of ' fairy rings,'
and avoided by all peasants who wish to prosper.
A long thin gleam of eastern daylight enabled him
to examine accurately the being Avho, in this wild
place and unusual hour, gave additional terror to
this haunted spot. She was dressed in white from
the neck to the knees; her arms, long and round
and white, were perfectly bare ; her head, uncovered,
allowed her long hair to descend in ringlet succeed-
ing ringlet, till the half of her person was nearly
26 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
concealed in the fleece. Amidst the whole, her
hands were constantly busy in shedding aside the
tresses which interposed between her steady and
uninterrupted gaze down a line of old road which
wound among the hills to an ancient burial-
ground.
" As the traveller continued to gaze, the figure
suddenly rose, and, wringing the rain from her long
locks, paced round and round the tree, chanting in
a wild and melancholy manner an equally wild and
delirious song.
THE FAIRY OAK OF CORRIEWATER.
The small bird's head is under its wing,
The deer sleeps on the grass ;
The moon comes out, and the stars shine down,
The dew gleams like the glass :
There is no sound in the world so wide,
Save the sound of the smitten brass,
With the merry cittern and the pipe
Of the fairies as they pass.
But oh ! the fire maun burn and burn,
And the hour is gone, and will never return.
The green hill cleaves, and forth, with a bound,
Comes elf and elfin steed ;
The moon dives down in a golden cloud,
The stars grow dim with dread ;
But a light is running along the earth,
So of heaven's they have no need :
O'er moor and moss with a shout they pass,
And the word is spur and speed —
But the fire maun burn, and I maun quake,
And the hour is gone that will never come back.
ELPHIN IRVING. 27
And when they came to Craigyburnwood,
The Queen of the Fairies spoke :
" Come, bind your steeds to the rushes so green,
And dance by the haunted oak :
I found the acorn on Heshbon Hill,
In the nook of a palmer's poke,
A thousand years since ; here it grows ! "
And they danced till the greenwood shook :
But oh ! the fire, the burning fire,
The longer it burns, it but blazes the higher.
" I have won me a youth," the Elf Queen said,
" The fairest that earth may see ;
This night I have won young Elph Irving
My cupbearer to be.
His service lasts but seven sweet years,
And his wage is a kiss of me."
And merrily, merrily, laughed the wild elves
Round Corris's greenwood tree.
But oh ! the fire it glows in my brain,
And the hour is gone, and comes not again.
The Queen she has whispered a secret word,
" Come hither my Elphin sweet,
And bring that cup of the charmed wine,
Thy lips and mine to weet."
But a brown elf shouted a loud, loud shout,
" Come, leap on your coursers fleet.
For here comes the smell of some baptised flesh,
And the sounding of baptised feet."
But oh ! the fire that burns, and maun burn ;
For the time that is gone will never return.
On a steed as white as the new-milked milk,
The Elf Queen leaped with a bound.
And young Elphin a steed like December snow
'Neath him at the word he found.
But a maiden came, and her christened arms
She linked her brother around,
28 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
And called on God, and the steed with a snort
Sank into the gaping ground.
But the fire maun burn, and I maun quake.
And the time that is gone •will no more come back.
And she held her brother, and lo ! he grew
A wild bull waked in ire ;
And she held her brother, and lo ! he changed
To a river roaring higher ;
And she held her brother, and he became
A flood of the raging fire ;
She shrieked and sank, and the wild elves laughed
Till the mountain rang and mire.
But oh ! the fire yet burns in my brain,
And the hour is gone, and comes not again.
" 0 maiden, why waxed thy faith so faint.
Thy spirit so slack and slaw ?
Thy courage kept good till the flame waxed wud,
Then thy might begun to thaw ;
Had ye kissed him with thy christened lip,
Ye had wan him frae 'mang us a'.
Now bless the fire, the elfin fire,
That made thee faint and fa' ;
Now bless the fire, the elfin fire.
The longer it burns it blazes the higher."
" At the close of this unusual strain, the figure
sat down on the grass, and proceeded to bind up
her long and disordered tresses, gazing along the
old and unfrequented road, ' Now God be my
helper,' said the traveller, who happened to be the
laird of Johnstone Bank, ' can this be a trick of the
fiend, or can it be bounie Phemie Irving who chants
this dolorous sang? Something sad has befallen
that makes her seek her seat in this eerie nook
amid the darkness and temjDest ; through might from
ELPHIN IRVING. 29
aboon I will go on and see.' And the horse, feel-
ing something of the owner's reviving spirit in the
application of spur-steel, bore him at once to the
foot of the tree. The poor delirious maiden uttered
a yell of piercing joy as she beheld him, and, with
the swiftness of a creature winged, linked her arms
round the rider's waist, and shrieked till the woods
rang. * Oh, I have ye now, Elphin, I have ye now,'
and she strained him to her bosom with a convulsive
grasp. * What ails ye, my bonnie lass 1 ' said the
laird of Johnstone Bank, his fears of the super-
natural vanishing when he beheld her sad and be-
wildered look. She raised her eyes at the sound,
and seeing a strange face, her arms slipped their
hold, and she dropped with a groan on the ground.
" The morning had now fairly broke ; the flocks
shook the rain from their sides, the shepherds hast-
ened to inspect their charges, and a thin blue smoke
began to stream from the cottages of the valley into
the brightening air. The laird carried Phemie
Irving in his arms, till he observed two shepherds
ascending from one of the loops of Corriewater,
bearing the lifeless body of her brother. They had
found him whirling round and round in one of the
numerous eddies, and his hands, clutched and filled
with wool, showed that he had lost his life in at-
tempting to save the flock of his sister. A plaid
was laid over the body, which, along with the un-
happy maiden in a half-lifeless state, was carried
30 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
into a cottage, and laid in that apartment distin-
guished among the peasantry by the name of the
chamber. While the peasant's wife was left to take
care of Phemie, old man and matron and maid had
collected around the drowned youth, and each began
to relate the circumstances of his death, when the
door suddenly opened, and his sister, advancing to
the corpse, with a look of delirious serenity, broke
out into a wild laugh and said ; ' Oh, it is wonderful,
it 's truly wonderful ! That bare and death-cold
body, dragged from the darkest pool of Corrie, with
its hands filled with fine wool, wears the perfect
similitude of my own Elphin ! I '11 tell ye — the
spiritual dwellers of the earth, the fairyfolk of our
evening tale, have stolen the living body, and
fashioned this cold and inanimate clod to mislead
your pursuit. In common eyes this seems all that
Elphin Irving would be, had he sunk in Corriewater ;
but so it seems not to me. Ye have sought the
living soul, and ye have found only its garment.
But oh, if ye had beheld him, as I beheld him to-
night, riding among the elfin troop, the fairest of
them all ; had you clasped him in your arms, and
wi'estled for him with spirits and terrible shapes from
the other world, till your heart quailed and your flesh
was subdued, then would ye yield no credit to the'
semblance which this cold and apparent flesh bears
to my brother. But hearken ! On Hallowmass Eve,
when the spiritual people are let loose on earth for
ELPHIN IRVING. 31
a season, I will take my stand in the burial-ground
of Corrie ; and when my Elphin and his unchris-
tened troop come past, with the sound of all their
minstrelsy, I will leap on him and win him, or
perish for ever.'
"All gazed aghast on the delirious maiden, and
many of her auditors gave more credence to her
distempered speech than to the visible evidence
before them. As she turned to depart, she looked
round, and suddenly sank upon the body, with tears
streaming from her eyes, and sobbed out, " My
brother ! Oh, my brother ! ' She was carried out
insensible, and again recovered ; but relapsed into
her ordinary delirium, in which she continued till
the Hallow Eve after her brother's burial. She was
found seated in the ancient burial-ground, her back
against a broken gravestone, her locks white with
frost-rime, Avatching with intensity of look the road
to the kirkyard ; but the spirit which gave life to
the fairest form of all the maids of Annandale was
fled for ever."
Such is the singular story Avhich the peasants
know by the name of " Elphin Irving, the Fairies'
Cupbearer " ; and the title, in its fullest and most
supernatural sense, still obtains credence among the
industrious and virtuous dames of the romantic vale
of Corrie.
THE GHOSTS OF CRAIG-AULN"ATC,
Two celebrated ghosts existed, once on a time, in
the wilds of Craig-Aulnaic, a romantic place in the
district of Stratlidown, Banffshire. The one was a
male and the other a female. The male was called
Fhuna Mhoir Ben Baynac, after one of the mountains
of Glenavon, where at one time he resided; and
the female was called Clashnichd Aulnaic, from
her having had her abode in Craig-Aulnaic. But
although the great ghost of Ben Baynac was bound
by the common ties of nature and of honour to pro-
tect and cherish his weaker companion, Clashnichd
Aulnaic, yet he often treated her in the most cruel
and unfeeling manner. In the dead of night, when
the surrounding hamlets were buried in deep repose,
and when nothing else disturbed the solemn stillness
of the midnight scene, oft would the shrill shrieks of
poor Clashnichd burst upon the slumberer's ears,
and awake him to anything but pleasant reflections.
But of all those who were incommoded by the
noisy and unseemly quarrels of these two ghosts,
James Owre or Gray, the tenant of the ftirm of
THE GHOSTS OF CRAIG-AULNAIC. 33
Balbig of Delnabo, was the greatest sufferer. From
the proximity of his abode to their haunts, it was
the misfortune of himself and family to be the
nightly audience of Clashnichd's cries and lamenta-
tions, which they considered anything but agreeable
entertainment.
One day as Jam^es Gray was on his rounds looking
after his sheep, he happened to fall in with Clash-
nichd, the ghost of Aulnaic, with whom he entered
into a long conversation. In the course of it he
took occasion to remonstrate with her on the very
disagreeable disturbance she caused himself and
family by her wild and unearthly cries — cries which,
he said, few mortals could relish in the dreary hours
of midnight. Poor Clashnichd, by way of apology
for her conduct, gave James Gray a sad account of
her usage, detailing at full length the series of
cruelties committed upon her by Ben Baynac. From
this account, it appeared that her living with the
latter was by no means a matter of choice with
Clashnichd ; on the contrary, it seemed that she had,
for a long time, lived apart with much comfort,
residing in a snug dwelling, as already mentioned,
in the wilds of Craig- Aulnaic ; but Ben Baynac
having unfortunately taken into his head to pay her
a visit, took a fancy, not to herself, but her dwelling,
of which, in his own name and authority, he took
immediate possession, and soon after he expelled
poor Clashnichd, with many stripes, from her natural
Scotch. p
34 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
inheritance. Not satisfied with invading and de-
priving her of her just rights, he was in the habit of
following her into her private haunts, not with the
view of offering her any endearments, but for the
purpose of inflicting on her person every torment
which his brain could invent.
Such a moving relation could not fail to aflfect the
generous heart of James Gray, who determined from
that moment to risk life and limb in order to vindi-
cate the rights and avenge the Avrongs of poor
Clashnichd, the ghost of Craig- Aulnaic. He, there-
fore, took good care to interrogate his new prot^gSe
touching the nature of her oppressor's constitution,
whether he was of that killalU species of ghost that
could be shot with a silver sixpence, or if there was
any other weapon that could possibly accomplish his
annihilation. Clashnichd informed him that she had
occasion to know that Ben Baynac was wholly
invulnerable to all the weapons of man, with the
exception of a large mole on his left breast, which
was no doubt penetrable by silver or steel; but
that, from the specimens she had of his personal
prowess and strength, it were vain for mere
man to attempt to combat him. Confiding, how-
ever, in his expertness as an archer — for he was
allowed to be the best marksman of the age —
James Gray told Clashnichd he did not fear him
with all his might, — that he was a man ; and
desired her, moreover, next time the ghost chose
THE GHOSTS OF CRAIG-AULNAIC. 35
to repeat his incivilities to her, to apply to him,
James Gray, for redress.
It was not long ere he had an opportunity of ful-
filling his promises. Ben Baynac having one night,
in the want of better amusement, entertained himself
by inflicting an inhuman castigation on Clashnichd,
she lost no time in waiting on James Gray, with a
full and particular account of it. She found him
smoking his cutty, for it was night when she came to
him ; but, notwithstanding the inconvenience of the
hour, James needed no great persuasion to induce
him to proceed directly along with Clashnichd to
hold a communing with their friend, Ben Baynac,
the great ghost. Clashnichd was stout and sturdy,
and understood the knack of travelling much better
than our women do. She expressed a wish that,
for the sake of expedition, James Gray would suffer
her to bear him along, a motion to which the latter
agreed ; and a few minutes brought them close to
the scene of Ben Baynac's residence. As they
approached his haunt, he came forth to meet them,
with looks and gestures which did not at all indicate
a cordial welcome. It was a fine moonlight night, and
they could easily observe his actions. Poor Clash-
nichd was now sorely afraid of the great ghost.
Apprehending instant destruction from his fury, she
exclaimed to James Gray that they would be both
dead people, and that immediately, unless James
Gray hit with an arrow the mole which covered Ben
36 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
Baynac's heart. This was not so difficult a task as
James had hitherto apprehended it. The mole was
as large as a common bonnet, and yet nowise dispro-
portioned to the natural size of the ghost's body, for
he certainly was a great and a mighty ghost. Ben
Baynac cried out to James Gray that he would soon
make eagle's meat of him ; and certain it is, such
was his intention, had not the shepherd so effectually
stopped him from the execution of it. Raising his
bow to his eye when within a few yards of Ben
Baynac, he took deliberate aim ; the aiTOW flew — it
hit — a yell from Ben Baynac announced the result.
A hideous howl re-echoed from the surrounding
mountains, responsive to the groans of a thousand
ghosts ; and Ben Baynac, like the smoke of a shot,
vanished into air.
Clashnichd, the ghost of Aulnaic, now found
herself emancipated from the most abject state of
slavery, and restored to freedom and liberty, through
the invincible courage of James Gray. Overpowered
wdth gratitude, she fell at his feet, and vowed to
devote the whole of her time and talents towards his
service and prosperity. Meanwhile, being anxious
to have her remaining goods and furniture removed
to her former dwelling, whence she had been so
iniquitously expelled by Ben Baynac, the great
ghost, she recjuested of her new master the use of
his horses to remove them. James observing on the
adjacent hill a flock of deer, and wishing to have a
THE GHOSTS OF CRAIG- AULNAIG. 37
trial of his new servant's sagacity or expertness, told
her those were his horses — she was welcome to the
use of them ; desiring that when she had done with
them, she would inclose them in his stable. Clash-
nichd then proceeded to make use of the horses, and
James Gray returned home to enjoy his night's rest.
Scarce had he reached his arm-chair, and reclined
his cheek on his hand, to ruminate over the bold
adventure of the night, when Clashnichd entered,
with her " breath in her throat," and venting the
bitterest complaints at the unruliness of his horses,
which had broken one-half of her furniture, and
caused her more trouble in the stabling of them than
their services were worth.
" Oh ! they are stabled, then 1 " inquired James
Gray. Clashnichd replied in the affirmative. " Very
well," rejoined James, " they shall be tame enough
to-morrow."
From this specimen of Clashnichd, the ghost of
Craig-Aulnaic's expertness, it will be seen what
a valuable acquisition her service proved to James
Gray and his young family. They were, however,
speedily deprived of her assistance by a most un-
fortunate accident. From the sequel of the story,
from which the foregoing is an extract, it appears
that poor Clashnichd was deeply addicted to propen-
sities which at that time rendered her kin so
obnoxious to their human neighbours. She was
constantly in the habit of visiting her friends much
38 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
oftener than she was invited, and, in the course of
such visits, was never very scrupulous in making free
with any eatables which fell within the circle of her
observation.
One day, while engaged on a foraging expedition
of this description, she happened to enter the Mill
of Delnabo, which was inhabited in those days by
the miller's family. She found his wife engaged in
roasting a large gridiron of fine savoury fish, the
agreeable smell proceeding from which perhaps
occasioned her visit. With the usual inquiries
after the health of the miller and his family, Clash-
nichd proceeded with the greatest familiarity and
good-humour to make herself comfortable at their
expense. But the miller's wife, enraged at the loss
of her fish, and not relishing such unwelcome famili-
arity, punished the unfortunate Clashnichd rather
too severely for her freedom. It happened that
there was at the time a large caldron of boiling
water suspended over the fire, and this caldron the
enraged wife overturned in Clashnichd's bosom !
Scalded beyond recovery, she fled up the wilds of
Craig-Aulnaic, uttering the most melancholy lamen-
tations, nor has she been ever heard of since.
THE DOOMED RIDER
" The Conan is as bonny a river as we hae in a' the
north country. There 's mony a sweet sunny spot
on its banks, an' mony a time an' aft hae I waded
through its shallows, Avhan a boy, to set my little
scautling-line for the trouts an' the eels, or to gather
the big pearl-mussels that lie sae thick in the fords.
But its bonny wooded banks are places 'for enjoying
the day in — no for passing the nicht. I kenna how
it is; it's nane o' your wild streams that wander
desolate through a desert country, like the Aven, or
that come rushing down in foam and thunder, ower
broken rocks, like the Foyers, or that wallow in
darkness, deep, deep in the bowels o' the earth, like
the fearfu' Auldgraunt; an' yet no aue o' these
rivers has mair or frightfuller stories connected wi'
it than the Conan. Ane can hardly saunter ower
half-a-mile in its course, frae where it leaves Coutin
till where it enters the sea, without passing ower the
scene o' some frightful auld legend o' the kelpie or
the waterwraith. And ane o' the most frightful
looking o' these places is to be found among the
39
40 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
woods of Conan House. Ye enter a swampy meadow
that waves wi' flags an' rushes like a corn-field in
harvest, an' see a hillock covered wi' willows rising
like an island in the midst. There are thick mirk-
woods on ilka side ; the river, dark an' awesome, an'
whirling round an' round in mossy eddies, sweeps
away behind it ; an' there is an auld burying-ground,
wi' the broken ruins o' an auld Papist kirk, on the
tap. Ane can see amang the rougher stanes the
rose-wrought mullions of an arched window, an'
the trough that ance held the holy water. About
twa hunder years ago — a wee mair maybe, or
a wee less, for ane canna be very sure o' the
date o' thae old stories — the building was entire;
an' a spot near it, whar the wood now grows
thickest, was laid out in a corn-field. The marks
o' the furrows may still be seen amang the
trees.
" A party o' Highlanders were busily engaged, ae
day in harvest, in cutting down the corn o' that
field; an' just aboot noon, when the sun shone
brightest an' they were busiest in the work, they
heard a voice frae the river exclaim : — ' The hour
but not the man has come.' Sure enough, on look-
ing round, there was the kelpie stan'in' in what they
ca' a fause ford, just foment the auld kirk. There
is a deep black pool baith aboon an' below, but i'
the ford there 's a bonny ripple, that shows, as ane
might think, but little depth o' water; an' just i'
THE DOOMED RIDEK. 41
the middle o' that, in a place where a horse might
swim, stood the kelpie. An' it again repeated its
words : — ' The hour but not the man has come,' an'
then flashing through the water like a drake, it dis-
appeared in the lower pool. When the folk stood
wondering "what the creature might mean, they saw
a man on horseback come spurring down the hill in
hot haste, making straight for the fause ford. They
could then understand her words at ance ; an' four
o' the stoutest o' them sprang oot frae amaug the
corn to warn him o' his danger, an' keej) him back.
An' sae they tauld him what they had seen an'
heard, an' urged him either to turn back an' tak'
anither road, or stay for an hour or sae where he
was. But he just wadna hear them, for he was
baith unbelieving an' in haste, an' wauld hae taen
the ford for a' they could say, hadna the High-
landers, determined on saving him whether he would
or no, gathered round him an' pulled him frae his
horse, an' then, to mak' sure o' him, locked him up
in the auld kirk. Weel, when the hour had gone
by — the fatal hour o' the kelpie — they flung open
the door, an' cried to him that he might noo gang
on his journey. Ah ! but there was nae answer,
though ; an' sae they cried a second time, an' there
was nae answer still ; an' then they went in,
an' found him lying stiff an' cauld on the floor,
wi' his face buried in the water o' the very stone
trough that we may still see amang the ruins.
42 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
His hour had come, an' he had fallen in a
fit, as 'twould seem, head - foremost amang the
water o' the trough, where he had been smothered,
— an' sae ye see, the prophecy o' the kelpie availed
naething."
WHIPPETY STOUPJE.
There was once a gentleman that lived in a very
grand house, and he married a young lady that had
been delicately brought up. In her husband's house
she found everything that was fine — fine tables and
chairs, fine looking-glasses, and fine curtains ; but
then her husband expected her to be able to spin
twelve hanks o' thread every day, besides attending
to her house ; and, to tell the even-down truth, the
lady could not spin a bit. This made her husband
glunchy with her, and, before a month had passed,
she found hersel' very unhappy.
One day the husband gaed away upon a journey,
after telling her that he expected her, before his
return, to have not only learned to spin, but to have
spun a hundred hanks o' thread. Quite downcast,
she took a walk along the hillside, till she cam' to a
big flat stane, and there she sat down and grat. By
and by she heard a strain o' fine sma' music, coming
as it were frae aneath the stane, and, on turning it
up, she saw a cave below, where there were sitting
43
44 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
six wee ladies in green gowns, ilk ane o' them
spinning on a little wheel, and singing,
" Little kens my dame at Lame
That Whippety Stourie is my name."
The lady walked into the cave, and was kindly
asked by the wee bodies to take a chair and sit
down, while they still continued their spinning.
She observed that ilk ane's mouth Avas thrawn away
to ae side, but she didna venture to speer the reason.
They asked why she looked so unhappy, and she
telt them that it was she was expected by her hus-
band to be a good spinner, when the plain truth was
that she could not spin at all, and found herself
quite unable for it, having been so delicately brought
up ; neither was there any need for it, as her hus-
band was a rich man.
" Oh, is that a' 1" said the little wifies, sj)eaking
out of their cheeks alike.
" Yes, and is it not a very good a' too 1, " said the
lady, her heart like to burst Avi' distress.
" We could easily quit ye o' that trouble," said
the wee women. " Just ask us a' to dinner for the
day when your husband is to come back. We '11
then let you see how we '11 manage him."
So the lady asked them all to dine with herself
and her husband, on the day when he was to come
back.
When the gudeman came hame, he found the
WHIPPETY STOURIE. 45
house so occupied with preparations for dinner, that
he had nae time to ask his wife about her thread ;
and, before ever he had ance spoken to her on the
subject, the company was announced at the hall
door. The six ladies all came in a coach-and-six,
and were as fine as princesses, but still wore their
gowns of green. The gentleman was very polite,
and showed them up the stair with a pair of wax
candles in his hand. And so they all sat down to
dinner, and conversation Avent on very pleasantly,
till at length the husband, becoming familiar with
them, said —
" Ladies, if it be not an uncivil question, I should
like to know how it happens that all your mouths
are turned away to one side?"
" Oh," said ilk ane at ance, " it 's with our con-
stant sjnn-spm- spinning."
" Is that the casef cried the gentleman ; " then,
John, Tarn, and Dick, fie, go haste and burn every
rock, and reel, and spinning-wheel in the house, for
I '11 not have my wife to spoil her bonnie face with
spin-spin-spinning."
And so the lady lived happily with her gudeman
all the rest of her days.
THE WEIPvD OF THE THREE AEEOWS.
Sir James Douglas, the companion of Bruce, and
well known by his appellation of the "Black
Douglas," was once, during the hottest period of the
exterminating war carried on by him and his
colleague Randolph, against the English, stationed
at Linthaughlee, near Jedburgh. He was resting,
himself and his men after the toils of many days'
fighting-marches through Teviotdale ; and, according
to his custom, had walked round the tents, previous
to retiring to the unquiet rest of a soldier's bed.
He stood for a few minutes at the entrance to his
tent contemplating the scene before him, rendered
more interesting by a clear moon, whose silver
beams fell, in the silence of a night without a breath
of wind, calmly on the slumbers of mortals destined
to mix in the mel^e of dreadful war, perhaps on the
morrow. As he stood gazing, irresolute whether to
retire to rest or indulge longer in a train of thought
not very suitable to a warrior who delighted in the
spirit-stirring scenes of his profession, his eye was
attracted by the figure of an old woman, who ap-
46
THE WEIKD OF THE THREE ARROWS. 47
proached him with a trembling step, leaning on a
staff, and holding in her left hand three English
cloth-shaft arrows.
" You are he who is ca'ed the guid Sir James 1 "
said the old woman.
" I am, good woman," replied Sir James. " Why-
hast thou wandered from the sutler's camp 1 "
"I dinna belang to the camp o' the hoblers,"
answered the woman. " I hae been a residenter in
Linthaughlee since the day when King Alexander
passed the door o' my cottage wi' his bonny French
bride, wha was terrified awa' frae Jedburgh by the
death's-head whilk appeared to her on the day o'
her marriage. What I hae suffered sin' that day "
(looking at the arrows in her hand) " lies between
me an' heaven."
" Some of your sons have been killed in the wars,
I presume 1" said Sir James.
" Ye hae guessed a pairt o' my waes," replied the
woman. " That arrow " (holding out one of the
three) " carries on its point the bluid o' my first
born ; that is stained wi' the stream that poured
frae the heart o' my second ; and that is red wi' the
gore in which my youngest weltered, as he gae up
the life that made me childless. They were a' shot
by English hands, in different armies, in different
battles. I am an honest woman, and wish to return
to the English what belongs to the English ; but
that in the same fashion in which they were sent.
48 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
The Black Douglas has the strongest arm an' the
surest ee in auld Scotland ; an' wha can execute my
commission better than he ] "
" I do not use the bow, good woman," replied Sir
James. "I love the grasp of the dagger or the
battle-axe. You must apply to some other individual
to return your arrows."
" I canna tak' them hame again," said the woman,
laying them down at tlie feet of Sir James. " Ye '11
see me again on St. James' E'en."
The old woman departed as she said these words.
Sir James took up the arrows, and placed them in
an empty quiver that lay amongst his baggage. He
retired to rest, but not to sleep. The figure of the
old woman and her strange request occupied his
thoughts, and produced trains of meditation which
ended in nothing but restlessness and disquietude.
Getting up at daybreak, he met a messenger at the
entrance of his tent, who informed him that Sir
Thomas de Eichmont, with a force of ten thousand
men, had crossed the Borders, and would pass through
a narrow defile, which he mentioned, where he could
be attacked with great advantage. Sir James gave
instant orders to march to the spot ; and, with that
genius for scheming, for which he was so remarkable,
commanded his men to twist together the young
birch-trees on either side of the passage to prevent
the escape of the enemy. This finished, he concealed
his archers in a hollow way, near the gorge of the pass.
THE WEIRD OF THE THEEE AEROWS. 49
The enemy came on ; and when their ranks were
embarrassed by the narrowness of the road, and it
was impossible for the cavalry to act with effect,
Sir James rushed upon them at the head of his
horsemen; and the archers, suddenly discovering
themselves, poured in a flight of arrows on the
confused soldiers, and put the whole army to flight.
In the heat of the onset, Douglas killed Sir Thomas
de Richmont with his dagger.
Not long after this, Edmund de Gallon, a
knight of Gascony, and Governor of Berwick, who
had been heard to vaunt that he had sought the
famous Black Knight, but could not find him, Avas
returning to England, loaded with plunder, the fruit
of an inroad on Teviotdale. Sir James thought it
a pity that a Gascon's vaunt should be heard un-
punished in Scotland, and made long forced marches
to satisfy the desire of the foreign knight, by giving
him a sight of the dark countenance he had made a
subject of reproach. He soon succeeded in grati-
fying both himself and the Gascon. Coming up in
his terrible manner, he called to Gallon to stop,
and, before he proceeded into England, receive the
respects of the Black Knight he had come to find,
but hitherto had not met. The Gascon's vaunt
was noAV changed ; but shame supplied the place of
courage, and he ordered his men to receive Douglas's
attack. Sir James assiduously sought his enemy.
He at last succeeded ; and a single combat ensued,
Scotch. " j-j
50 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
of a most desperate character. But who ever
escaped the arm of Douglas when fairly opposed to
him in single conflict 1 Cailon was killed ; he had
met the Black Knight at last.
" So much," cried Sir James, " for the vaunt of a
Gascon ! "
Similar in every respect to the fate of Cailon, was
that of Sir Ealph Neville. He, too, on hearing the
great fame of Douglas's prowess, from some of
Cailon's fugitive soldiers, openly boasted that he
would fight with the Scottish Knight, if he would
come and show his banner before Berwick. Sir
James heard the boast and rejoiced in it. He
marched to that town, and caused his men to ravage
the country in front of the battlements, and burn
the villages. Neville left Berwick Avith a strong
body of men; and, stationing himself on a high
ground, waited till the rest of the Scots should
disperse to plunder ; but Douglas called in his
detachment and attacked the knight. After a des-
perate conflict, in which many were slain, Douglas,
as was his custom, succeeded in bringing the leader
to a personal encounter, and the skill of the Scottish
knight was again successful. Neville was slain, and
his men utterly discomfited.
Having retired one night to his tent to take
some rest after so much pain and toil. Sir James
Douglas was surprised by the reappearance of the
old woman whom he had seen at Linthaughlee.
THE WEIRD OF THE THREE ARROWS. 51
" This is the feast o' St. James," said she, as she
approached him. " I said I would see ye again
this nicht, an' I 'm as guid 's my word. Hae ye
returned the arrows I left wi' ye to the English wha
sent them to the hearts o' my sons ? "
" No," replied Sir James. " I told ye I did not
fight with the bow. Wherefore do ye importune
me thus 1 "
" Give me back the arrows then," said the
woman.
Sir James went to bring the quiver in which he
had placed them. On taking them out, he was
surprised to find that they were all broken through
the middle.
" How has this happened 1 " said he. " I put
these arrows in this quiver entire, and now they are
broken."
" The weird is fulfilled!" cried the old woman,
laughing eldrichly, and clapping her hands. " That
broken shaft cam' frae a soldier o' Richmont's ; that
frae ane o' Gallon's, and that frae ane o' Neville's.
They are a' dead, an' I am revenged ! "
The old woman then departed, scattering, as she
went, the broken fragments of the arrows on the
floor of the tent.
THE LAIRD OF BALMACHIE'S WIFE.
In the olden times, when it was the fashion for
gentlemen to wear swords, the Laird of Balmachie
went one day to Dundee, leaving his wife at home
ill in bed. Riding home in the twilight, he had
occasion to leave the high road, and when crossing
between some little romantic knolls, called the Cur-
hills, in the neighbourhood of Carlungy, he en-
countered a troop of fairies supporting a kind of
litter, upon which some person seemed to be
borne. Being a man of dauntless courage, and,
as he said, impelled by some internal impulse, he
pushed his horse close to the litter, drew his
sword, laid it across the vehicle, and in a firm tone
exclaimed —
" In the name of God, release your cap-
tive."
The tiny troop immediately disappeared, droi:)ping
the litter on the ground. The laird dismounted,
and found that it contained his own wife, dressed
in her bedclothes. Wrapping his coat around her,
he placed her on the horse before him, and, having
62
THE LAIRD OF BALMACHIE's WIFE. 53
only a short distance to ride, arrived safely at
Lome.
Placing lier in another room, under the care of
an attentive friend, he immediately went to the
chamber where he had left his wife in the morning,
and there to all appearance she still lay, very sick
of a fever. She was fretful, discontented, and com-
plained much of having been neglected in his
absence, at all of which the laird aflTected great
concern, and pretending much sympathy, insisted
upon her rising to have her bed made. She said
that she was unable to rise, but her husband was
peremptory, and having ordered a large wood
fire to warm the room, he lifted the impostor
from the bed, and bearing her across the floor
as if to a chair, which had been previously pre-
pared, he threw her on the fire, from which
she bounced like a sky-rocket, and went through
the ceiling, and out at the roof of the house,
leaving a hole among the slates. He then brought
in his own wife, a little recovered from her alarm,
Avho said, that sometime after sunset, the nurse
having left her for the purpose of preparing a
little candle, a multitude of elves came in at the
window, thronging like bees from a hive. They
filled the room, and having lifted her from the bed
carried her through the window, after which she
recollected nothing further, till she saw her husband
standing over her on the Cur-hills, at the back of
54 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
Carlungy. The hole in the roof, by which the
female fairy made her escape, was mended, but
could never be kept in repair, as a tempest of wind
happened always once a year, which uncovered that
particular spot, without injuring any other part of
the roof.
MICHAEL SCOTT.
In the early part of Michael Scott's life he was in
the habit of emigrating annually to the Scottish
metropolis, for the purpose of being employed in his
capacity of mason. One time as he and two com-
panions were journeying to the place of their desti-
nation for a similar object, they had occasion to pass
over a high hill, the name of which is not men-
tioned, but which is supposed to have been one of
the Grampians, and being fatigued with climbing,
they sat down to rest themselves. They had no
sooner done so than they were warned to take to
their heels by the hissing of a large serpent, which
they observed revolving itself towards them with
great velocity. Terrified at the sight, Michael's two
companions fled, while he, on the contrary, resolved
to encounter the reptile. The appalling monster
approached Michael Scott with distended mouth
and forked tongue ; and, throwing itself into a coil
at his feet, was raising its head to inflict a mortal
sting, when Michael, with one stroke of his stick,
severed its body into three pieces. Having rejoined
55
56 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
his affrighted comrades, they resumed their journey;
and, on arriving at the next public-house, it being
late, and the travellers being weary, they took up
their quarters at it for the night. In the course of
the night's conversation, reference was naturally
made to Michael's recent exploit with the serpent,
when the landlady of the house, who was remark-
able for her " arts," happened to be present. Her
curiosity appeared much excited by the conversa-
tion ; and, after making some inquiries regarding
the colour of the serpent, which she was told was
white, she offered any of them that would procure
her the middle piece such a tempting reward, as
induced one of the party instantly to go for it. The
distance was not very great ; and on reaching the
spot, he found the middle and tail piece in the place
where Michael left them, but the head piece was gone
The landlady on receiving the piece, which still
vibrated with life, seemed highly gratified at her
acquisition; and, over and above the promised
reward, regaled her lodgers very plentifully with
the choicest dainties in her house. Fired with
curiosity to know the purpose for which the serpent
was intended, the wily Michael Scott was imme-
diately seized with a severe fit of indisposition,
which caused him to prefer the request that he
might be allowed to sleep beside the fire, the
warmth of which, he affirmed, was in the highest
deijree beneficial to him.
MICHAEL SCOTT. 67
Never suspecting Michael Scott's hypocrisy, and
naturally supposing that a person so severely indis-
posed would feel very little curiosity about the
contents of any cooking utensils which might lie
around the fire, the landlady allowed his request.
As soon as the other inmates of the house were
retired to bed, the landlady resorted to her darling
occupation : and, in his feigned state of indisposi-
tion, Michael had a favourable opportunity of
watching most scrupulously all her actions through
the keyhole of a door leading to the next apartment
where she was. He could see the rites and cere-
monies with which the serpent was put into the
oven, along with many mysterious ingredients.
After which the unsuspicious landlady placed the
dish by the fireside, where lay the distressed
traveller, to stove till the morning.
Once or twice in the course of the night the
"wife of the change-house," under the pretence of
inquiring for her sick lodger, and administering to
him some renovating cordials, the beneficial effects
of which he gratefully acknowledged, took occasion
to dip her finger in her saucepan, upon which the
cock, perched on his roost, crowed aloud. All
Michael's sickness could not prevent him consider-
ing very inquisitively the landlady's cantrips, and
particularly the influence of the sauce upon the
crowing of the cock. Nor could he dissij^ate some
inward desires he felt to follow her example. At
58 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
the same time, he suspected that Satan had a hand
in the pie, yet he thought he would like very
much to be at the bottom of the concern ; and thus
his reason and his curiosity clashed against each
other for the space of several hours. At length
passion, as is too often the case, became the conqueror.
Michael, too, dipped his finger in the sauce, and
applied it to the tip of his tongue, and immediately
the cock perched on the spardan announced the cir-
cumstance in a mournful clarion. Instantly his mind
received a new light to which he was formerly a
stranger, and the astonished dupe of a landlady now
found it her interest to admit her sagacious lodger
into a knowledge of the remainder of her secrets.
Endowed with the knowledge of " good and evil,"
and all the " second sights " that can be acquired,
Michael left his lodgings in the morning, with the
philosopher's stone in his pocket. By daily perfect-
ing his supernatural attainments, by new series of
discoveries, he became more than a match for Satan
■ himself Having seduced some thousands of Satan's
best workmen into his employment, he trained them
up so successfully to the architective business, and
inspired them with such industrious habits, that he
was more than sufficient for all the architectural
work of the empire. To establish this assertion, we
need only refer to some remains of his workmanship
still existing north of the Grampians, some of them,
stupendous bridges built by him in one short night,
MICHAEL SCOTT. 59
with no other visible agents than two or three
workmen.
On one occasion work was getting scarce, as
might have been naturally expected, and his work-
men, as they were wont, flocked to his doors, per-
petually exclaiming, " Work ! work ! work ! " Con-
tinually annoyed by their incessant entreaties, he
called out to them in derision to go and make a dry
road from Fortrose to Arderseir, over the Moray
Firth. Immediately their cry ceased, and as Scott
sujjposed it wholly impossible for them to execute
his order, he retired to rest, laughing most heartily
at the chimerical sort of employment he had given
to his industrious workmen. Early in the morning,
however, he got up and took a walk at the break of
day down to the shore to divert himself at the
fruitless labours of his zealous workmen. But on
reaching the spot, what was his astonishment to find
the formidable piece of work allotted to them only
a few hours before already nearly finished. Seeing
the great damage the commercial class of the com-
munity would sustain from the operation, he ordered
the workmen to demolish the most part of their
work; leaving, however, the point of Fortrose to
show the traveller to this day the wonderful exploit
of Michael Scott's fairies.
On being thus again thrown out of employment,
their former clamour was resumed, nor could Michael
Scott, with all his sagacity, devise a plan to keep
60 SCOTCH FOLKLOKE TALES.
them in innocent employment. He at length dis-
covered one. "Go," says he, "and manufacture
me ropes that will carry me to the back of the
moon, of these materials — miller' s-sudds and sea-sand."
Michael Scott here obtained rest from his active
operators ; for, Avhen other work failed them, he
always despatched them to their rope manufactory.
But though these agents could never make proper
ropes of those materials, their efforts to that effect
are far from being contemptible, for some of their
ropes are seen by the sea-side to this day.
We shall close our notice of Michael Scott by
reciting one anecdote of him in the latter part of his
life.
In consequence of a violent quarrel which Michael
Scott once had with a person whom he conceived to
have caused him some injury, he resolved, as the
highest punishment he could inflict upon him, to
send his adversary to that evil place designed only
for Satan and his black companions. He accord-
ingly, by means of his suiDernatui-al machinations,
sent the poor unfortunate man thither ; and had he
been sent by any other means than those of Michael
Scott, he would no doubt have met with a warm
reception. Out of pure spite to Michael, however,
when Satan learned who was his billet-master, he
would no more receive him than he would receive
the Wife of Beth; and instead of treating the
unfortunate man with the harshness characteristic
MICHAEL SCOTT. 61
of him, he showed him considerable civilities. In-
troducing him to his " Ben Taigh," he directed her
to show the stranger any curiosities he might wish
to see, hinting very significantly that he had pro-
vided some accommodation for their mutual friend,
Michael Scott, the sight of which might afford him
some gratification. The polite housekeeper accord-
ingly conducted the stranger through the principal ■
apartments in the house, where he saw fearful sights.
But the bed of Michael Scott ! — his greatest enemy
could not but feel satiated with revenge at the sight
of it. It was a place too horrid to be described,
filled promiscuously with all the awful brutes ima-
ginable. Toads and lions, lizards and leeches, and,
amongst the rest, not the least conspicuous, a large
serpent gaping for Michael Scott, with its mouth
wide open. This last sight having satisfied the
stranger's curiosity, he was led to the outer gate,
and came away. He reached his friends, and, among
other pieces of news touching his travels, he was
not backward in relating the entertainment that
awaited his friend Michael Scott, as soon as he
would " stretch his foot " for the other world. But
Michael did not at all appear disconcerted at his
friend's intelligence. He affirmed that he would
disappoint all his enemies in their expectations — in
proof of which he gave the following signs : " When
I am just dead," says he, " open my breast and
extract my heart. Carry it to some place where
62 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
the public may see the result. You will then
transfix it upon a long pole, and if Satan will have
my soul, he will come in the likeness of a black
raven and carry it off; and if my soul will be saved
it will be carried off by a white dove."
His friends faithfully obeyed his instructions.
Having exhibited his heart in the manner directed,
a large black raven was observed to come from the
east with great fleetness, while a white dove came
from the west with equal velocity. The raven made
a furious dash at the heart, missing which, it was
unable to curb its force, till it was considerably past
it ; and the dove, reaching the spot at the same
time, carried off the heart amidst the rejoicing and
ejaculations of the spectators.
THE MINISTEE AND THE FAIEY.
Not long since, a pious clergyman was returning
home, after administering spiritual consolation to a
dying member of his flock. It was late of the night,
and he had to pass through a good deal of uncanny
land. He was, however, a good and a conscientious
minister of the Gospel, and feared not all the spirits
in the country. On his reaching the end of a lake
which stretched along the roadside for some distance,
he was a good deal surprised at hearing the most
melodious strains of music. Overcome by pleasure
and curiosity, the minister coolly sat down to listen
to the harmonious sounds, and try what new dis-
coveries he could make with regard to their nature
and source. He had not sat many minutes before
he could distinguish the approach of the music, and
also observe a light in the direction from whence it
proceeded gliding across the lake towards him. In-
stead of taking to his heels, as any faithless wight
would have done, the pastor fearlessly determined
to await the issue of the phenomenon. As the
light and music drew near, the clergyman could at
63
64 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
length distinguisli an object resembling a human
being walking on the surface of the water, attended
by a group of diminutive musicians, some of them
bearing lights, and others instruments of music,
from which they continued to evoke those melodious
strains which first attracted his attention. The
leader of the band dismissed his attendants, landed
on the beach, and afforded the minister the am-
plest opportunities of examining his appeai'ance.
He was a little primitive-looking grey-headed man,
clad in the most grotesque habit the clergyman had
ever seen, and such as led him at once to suspect
his real character. He walked up to the minister,
whom he saluted with great grace, offering an
apology for his intrusion. The pastor returned his
compliments, and, without further explanation, in-
vited the mysterious stranger to sit down by his
side. The invitation was complied with, upon which
the minister proposed the following question : —
" "Who art thou, stranger, and from whence 1 "
To this question the fairy, with downcast eye,
replied that he was one of those sometimes called
Docine Shee, or men of peace, or good men, though
the reverse of this title was a more fit appellation
for them. Originally angelic in his nature and
attributes, and once a sharer of the indescribable
joys of the regions of light, he was seduced by Satan
to join him in his mad conspiracies ; and, as a
punishment for his transgression, he was cast down
THE MINISTEK AND THE FAIRY. 65
from those regions of bliss, and was now doomed,
along with millions of fellow-sufierers, to wander
through seas and mountains, until the coming of
the Great Day. What their fate would be then they
could not divine, but they apprehended the worst.
" And," continued he, turning to the minister, with
great anxiety, " the object of my present intrusion
on you is to learn your opinion, as an eminent
divine, as to our final condition on that dreadful day."
Here the venerable pastor entered upon a long
conversation with the fairy, touching the principles
of faith and repentance. Eeceiving rather unsatis-
factory answers to his questions, the minister de-
sired the " sheech " to repeat after him the Pater-
noster, in attempting to do which, it was not a
little remarkable that he could not repeat the word
" art," but said " wert" in heaven. Inferring from
every circumstance that their fate was extremely
precarious, the minister resolved not to puff the
fairies up with presumptuous, and, perhaps, ground-
less expectations. Accordingly, addressing himself
to the unhappy fairy, who was all anxiety to know
the nature of his sentiments, the reverend gentle-
man told him that he could not take it upon him
to give them any hopes of pardon, as their crime
was of so deep a hue as scarcely to admit of it. On
this the unhappy fairy uttered a shriek of despair,
plunged headlong into the loch, and the minister
resumed his course to his home,
Scotch. -p
THE FISHERMAN AND THE MERMAN.
Of mermen and merwomen many strange stories
are told in the Shetland Isles. Beneath the depths
of the ocean, according to these stories, an atmo-
sphere exists adapted to the respiratory organs of
certain beings, resembling, in form, the human race,
possessed of surpassing beauty, of limited super-
natural powers, and liable to the incident of death.
They dwell in a wide territory of the globe, far
below the region of fishes, over which the sea, like
the cloudy canopy of our sky, loftily rolls, and they
possess habitations constructed of the pearl and coral
productions of the ocean. Having lungs not adapted
to a watery medium, but to the nature of atmo-
spheric air, it would be impossible for them to pass
through the volume of waters that intervenes between
the submarine and supramarine world, if it were
not for the extraordinary power they inherit of
entering the skin of some animal capable of exist-
ing in the sea, which they are enabled to occupy by
a sort of demoniacal possession. One shape they
put on, is that of an animal human above the waist.
THE FISHERMAN AND THE MERMAN. 67
yet terminating below in the tail and fins of a fish,
but the most favourite form is that of the larger seal
or Haaf-fish ; for, in possessing an amphibious nature,
they are enabled not only to exist in the ocean, but
to land on some rock, where they frequently lighten
themselves of their sea-dress, resume their proper
shape, and with much curiosity examine the nature
of the upper world belonging to the human race.
Unfortunately, however, each merman or merwoman
possesses but one skin, enabling the individual to
ascend the seas, and if, on visiting the abode of man,
the garb be lost, the hapless being must unavoidably
become an inhabitant of the earth.
A story is told of a boat's crew who landed for
the purpose of attacking the seals lying in the
hollows of the crags at one of the stacks. The men
stunned a number of the animals, and while they
were in this state stripped them of their skins, with
the fat attached to them. Leaving the carcasses on
the rock, the crew were about to set off for the shore
of Papa Stour, when such a tremendous swell arose
that every one flew quickly to the boat. All suc-
ceeded in entering it except one man, who had
imprudently lingered behind. The crew were un-
willing to leave a companion to perish on the
skerries, but the surge increased so fast, that after
many unsuccessful attempts to bring the boat close
in to the stack the unfortunate wight was left to his
fate. A stormy night came on, and the deserted
68 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
Shetlander saw no prospect before him but that
of perishing from cold and hunger, or of being
washed into the sea by the breakers Avhich
threatened to dash over the rocks. At length,
he perceived many of the seals, who, in their flight
had escaped the attack of the boatmen, approach the
skerry, disrobe themselves of their amphibious hides,
and resume the shape of the sons and daughters of
the ocean. Their first object was to assist in the
recovery of their friends, who having been stunned
by clubs, had, while in that state, been deprived of
their skins. When the flayed animals had regained
their sensibility, they assumed their proper form of
mermen or merwomen, and began to lament in a
mournful lay, wildly accompanied by the storm that
v/as raging around^ the loss of their sea-dress, which
would prevent them from again enjoying their native
azure atmosphere, and coral mansions that lay below
the deep waters of the Atlantic. But their chief
lamentation was for Ollavitinus, the son of Gioga,
who, having been stripj)ed of his seal's skin, would
be for ever parted from his mates, and condemned
to become an outcast inhabitant of the upper world.
Their song was at length broken off", by observing one
of their enemies viewing, with shivering limbs and
looks of comfortless despair, the wild waves that
dashed over the stack. Gioga immediately con-
ceived the idea of rendering subservient to the ad-
vantage of the son the perilous situation of the man-
THE FISHERMAN AND THE MERMAN. 69
She addressed him with mildness, proposing to carry
him safe on her back across the sea to Papa Stour,
on condition of receiving the seal-skin of Ollavitinus.
A bargain was struck, and Gioga clad herself in her
amphibious garb ; but the Shetlander, alarmed at
the sight of the stormy main that he was to ride
through, prudently begged leave of the matron, for
his better preservation, that he might be allowed to
cut a few holes in her shoulders and flanks, in order
to procure, between the skin and the flesh, a better
fastening for his hands and feet. The request being
complied with, the man grasped the neck of the
seal, and committing himself to her care, she landed
him safely at Acres Gio in Papa Stour ; from which
place he immediately repaired to a skeo at Hamna
Voe, where the skin was deposited, and honourably
fulfilled his part of the contract, by aff'ording Gioga
the means Avhereby her son could again revisit the
ethereal space over which the sea spread its green
mantle.
THE LAIED 0' CO'.
In the days of yore, the proprietors of Colzean, in
Ayrshire (ancestors of the Marquis of Ailsa), were
known in that country by the title of Lairds o' Co',
a name bestowed on Colzean from some co's (or
coves) in the rock beneath the castle.
One morning, a very little boy, carrying a small
wooden can, addressed the Laird near the castle
gate, begging for a little ale for his mother, who was
sick. The Laird directed him to go to the butler
and get his can filled ; so away he went as ordered.
The butler had a barrel of ale on tap, but about
half full, out of which he proceeded to fill the boy's
can ; but to his extreme surprise he emptied the
cask, and still the little can was not nearly full.
The butler was unwilling to broach another barrel,
but the little fellow insisted on the fulfilment of the
Laird's order, and a reference was made to the Laird
by the butler, who stated the miraculous capacity of
the tiny can, and received instant orders to fill it if
all the ale in the cellar would suffice. Obedient to
this command, he broached another cask, but had
70
THE LAIRD o' CO.' 71
scarcely drawn a drop when the can was full, and
the dwarf departed with expressions of gratitude.
Some years afterwards the Laird being at the
wars in Flanders was taken prisoner, and for some
reason or other (probably as a spy) condemned to
die a felon's death. The night prior to the day for
his execution, being confined in a dungeon strongly
barricaded, the doors suddenly flew open, and the
dwarf reappeared, saying —
" Laird o' Co',
Rise an' go."
a summons too welcome to require repetition.
On emerging from prison, the boy caused him to
mount on his shoulders, and in a short time set him
down at his own gate, on the very spot where they
had formerly met, saying —
" Ae glide turn deserves anither —
Tak' ye that for being sae kin' to my aukl mitlier,"
and vanished.
EWEN OF THE LITTLE HEAD.
About three hundred years ago, Ewen Maclaine of
Lochbuy, in the island of Mull, having been engaged
in a quarrel with a neighbouring chief, a day was
fixed for determining the affair by the sword. Loch-
buy, before the day arrived, consulted a celebrated
witch as to the result of the feud. The witch de-
clared that if Lochbuy's wife should on the morning
of that day give him and his men food unasked, he
would be victorious, but if not, the result would be
the reverse. This was a disheartening response for
the unhajDpy votary, his wife being a noted shrew.
The fatal morning arrived, and the hour for meet-
ing the enemy approached, but there appeared no
symptoms of refreshment for Lochbuy and his men.
At length the unfortunate man was compelled to
ask his wife to supply them with food. She set
down before them curds, but without spoons. When
the husband inquired how they were to eat them,
she replied they should assume the bills of hens.
The men ate the curds, as well as they could, with
their hands ; but Lochbuy himself ate none. After
EWEN OF THE LITTLE HEAD. 73
behaving with the greatest bravery in the bloody
conflict which ensued, he fell covered with wounds,
leaving his wife to the execration of the people.
She is still known in that district under the appel-
lation of Corr-dhu, or the Black Crane.
But the miseries brought on the luckless Lochbuy
by his wife did not end with his life, for he died
fasting, and his ghost is frequently seen to this day
riding the very horse on which he was mounted
when he was killed. It was a small, but very neat
and active pony, dun or mouse-coloured, to which
the Laird was much attached, and on which he had
ridden for many years before his death. Its ap-
pearance is as accurately described in the island of
Mull as any steed is at Newmarket. The prints of
its shoes are discerned by connoisseurs, and the
rattling of its curb is recognised in the darkest
night. It is not particular with regard to roads,
for it goes up hill and down dale with equal velocity.
Its hard-fated rider still wears the same green cloak
which covered him in his last battle ; and he is par-
ticularly distinguished by the small size of his head,
a peculiarity which, we suspect, the learned dis-
ciples of Spurzheim have never yet had the sagacity
to discover as indicative of an extraordinary talent
and incomparable perseverance in horsemanship.
It is now above three hundred years since Ewen-
a-chin-vig (Anglice, Hugh of the Little Head) fell in
the field of honour ; but neither the vigour of the
74 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
horse nor of the rider is yet diminished. His
mournful duty has always been to attend the dying
moments of every member of his own tribe, and to
escort the departed spirit on its long and arduous
journey. He has been seen in the remotest of the
Hebrides ; and he has found his way to Ireland on
these occasions long before steam navigation was
invented. About a century ago he took a fancy for
a young man of his own race, and frequently did
him the honour of placing him behind himself on
horseback. He entered into conversation with him,
and foretold many circumstances connected with the
fate of his successors, which have undoubtedly since
come to pass.
Many a long winter night have I listened to the
feats of Ewen-a-chin-vig, the faithful and indefatig-
able guardian of his ancient family, in the hour of
their last and greatest trial, affording an example
worthy the imitation of every chief, — perhaps not
beneath the notice of Glengarry himself.
About a dozen years since some symptoms of
Ewen's decay gave very general alarm to his friends.
He accosted one of his own people (indeed he never
has been known to notice any other), and, shaking
him cordially by the hand, he attempted to place
him on the saddle behind him, but the uncourteous
dog declined the honour. Ewen struggled hard,
but the clown was a great, strong, clumsy fellow,
and stuck to the earth with all his might. He
EWEN OF THE LITTLE HEAD. 75
candidly acknowledged, however, that his chief
would have prevailed, had it not been for a birch-
tree which stood by, and which he got within the
fold of his left arm. The contest became very warm
indeed, and the tree was certainly twisted like an
osier, as thousands can testify who saw it as well as
myself. At length, however, Ewen lost his seat for
the first time, and the instant the pony found he
was his own master, he set off with the fleetness of
lightning. Ewen immediately pursued his steed,
and the wearied rustic sped his way homeward. It
was the general opinion that Ewen found consider-
able difficulty in catching the horse; but I am
happy to learn that he has been lately seen riding
the old mouse-coloured pony without the least
change in either the horse or the rider. Long may
he continue to do so !
Those who from motives of piety or curiosity
have visited the sacred island of lona, must remem-
ber to have seen the guide point out the tomb of
Ewen, with his figure on horseback, very elegantly
sculptured in alto-relievo, and many of the above
facts are on such occasions related.
JOCK AND. HIS MOTHEE.
Ye see, there was a wife had a son, and they called
him Jock ; and she said to him, " You are a lazy-
fellow ; ye maun gang awa' and do something for
to help me." "Weel," says Jock, "I'll do that."
So awa' he gangs, and fa's in wi' a packman. Says
the packman, " If you carry my pack a' day, I '11 gie
you a needle at night." So he carried the pack,
and got the needle ; and as he was gaun awa' hams
to his mither, he cuts a burden o' brackens, and put
the needle into the heart o' them. Awa' he gaes
hame. Says his mither, " What hae ye made o'
yoursel' the day 1 " Says Jock, " I fell in wi' a
packman, and Carried his pack a' day, and he gae
me a needle for 't, and ye may look for it amang the
brackens." " Hout," quo' she, "ye daft gowk, you
should hae stuck it into your bonnet, man." " I '11
mind that again," quo' Jock.
Next day he fell in wi' a man carrying plough
socks. " If ye help me to carry my socks a' day,
I '11 gie ye ane to yersel' at night." " I '11 do that,"
quo' Jock. Jock carried them a' day, and got a
JOCK AND HIS MOTHER. 77
sock, which he stuck in his bonnet. On the way
harae, Jock was dry, and gaed away to take a drink
out o' the burn ; and wi' the weight o' the sock, his
bonnet fell into the river, and gaed out o' sight.
He gaed hame, and his mither says, " Weel, Jock,
what hae you been doing a' day ] " And then he
tells her. " Hout," quo' she, " you should hae tied
the string to it, and trailed it behind you." " Weel,"
quo' Jock, "I'll mind that again."
Awa' he sets, and he fa's in wi' a flesher. " Weel,"
says the flesher, " if ye '11 be my servant a' day, I '11
gie ye a leg o' mutton at night." " I '11 be that,"
quo' Jock. He got a leg o' mutton at night. He
ties a string to it, and trails it behind him the hale
road hame. " What hae ye been doing 1 " said his
mither. He tells her. " Hout, you fool, ye should
hae carried it on your shouther." " I '11 mind that
again," quo' Jock.
Awa' he gaes next day, and meets a horse-dealer.
He says, " If you will help me wi' my horses a' day,
I '11 give you ane to yoursel' at night." " I '11 do
that," quo' Jock. So he served him, and got his
horse, and he ties its feet ; but as he was not able to
carry it on his back, he left it lying on the roadside.
Hame he comes, and tells his mither. " Hout, ye
daft gowk, ye '11 ne'er turn wise ! Could ye no hae
loupen on it, and ridden if?" "I'll mind that
again," quo' Jock.
Aweel, there was a grand gentleman, wha had a
78 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
daughter wha was very subject to melancholy ; and
her father gae out that whaever should niak' her
laugh would get her in marriage. So it happened
that she was sitting at the window ae day, musing
in her melancholy state, when Jock, according to the
advice o' his mither, cam' flying up on a cow's back,
wi' the tail over his shouther. And she burst out
into a fit o' laughter. When they made inquiry
wha made her laugh, it was found to be Jock riding
on the cow. Accordingly, Jock was sent for to get
his bride. AVeel, Jock was married to her, and
there was a great supper prepared. Amongst the
rest o' the things, there was some honey, which Jock
was very fond o'. After supper, they all retired,
and the auld priest that married them sat up a'
night by the kitchen fireside. So Jock waukens in
the night-time, and says, " Oh, wad ye gie me some
o' yon nice sweet honey that we got to our supper
last night 1 " " Oh ay," says his wife, " rise and
gang into the press, and ye '11 get a pig fou o 't."
Jock rose, and thrust his hand into the honey -pig for
a nievefu' o 't, and he could not get it out. So he cam'
awa' wi' the pig in his hand, like a mason's mell,
and says, " Oh, I canna get my hand out." " Hoot,"
quo' she, " gang awa' and break it on the cheek-
stane." By this time, the fire was dark, and the
auld priest Avas lying snoring wi' his head against the
chimney-piece, wi' a huge white wig on. Jock gaes
awa', and gae him a whack wi' the honey-pig on the
JOCK AND HIS MOTHER. 79
head, thinking it was the cheek-stane, and knocks
it a' in bits. The auld priest roars out, "Murder!"
Jock tak's doun the stair as hard as he could bicker,
and hides himsel' amang the bees' skeps.
That night, as luck wad have it, some thieves
cam' to steal the bees' skeps, and in the hurry o'
tumbling them into a large grey plaid, they tumbled
Jock in alang wi' them. So afF they set, wi' Jock
and the skeps on their backs. On the way, they
had to cross the burn where Jock lost his bonnet.
Ane o' the thieves cries, " Oh, I hae fand a bonnet !"
and Jock, on hearing that, cries out, " Ob, that 's
mine ! " They thocht they had got the deil on their
backs. So they let a' fa' in the burn ; and Jock,
being tied in the plaid, couldna get out ; so he and
the bees were a' drowned thegither.
If a' tales be true, that 's nae lee.
SAINT COLUMBA.
Soon after Saint Columba established liis residence
in lona, tradition says that he paid a visit to a great
seminary of Druids, then in the vicinity, at a place
called Camusnan Ceul, or Bay of Cells, in the district
of Ardnamurchan. Several remains of Druidical
circles are still to be seen there, and on that bay
and the neighbourhood many places are still named
after their rites and ceremonies ; such as Ardintihert,
the Mount of Sacrifice, and others. The fame of the
Saint had been for some time well known to the
people, and his intention of instructing them in the
doctrines of Christianity was announced to them.
The ancient priesthood made every exertion to
dissuade the inhabitants from hearing the powerful
eloquence of Columba, and in this they were seconded
by the j^rincipal man then in that country, whose
name was Donald, a son of Connal.
The Saint had no sooner made his appearance,
however, than he Avas surrounded by a vast multi-
tude, anxious to hear so celebrated a preacher ; and
after the sei'mon was ended, many persons expressed
80
SAINT COLUMBA. . .81
a desire to be baptized, in spite of the remonstrances
of the Druids. Columba had made choice of an
eminence centrally situated for performing worship ;
but there was no water near the spot, and the son of
Connal threatened with punishment any who should
dare to procure it for his purpose. The Saint stood
with his back leaning on a rock; after a short
prayer, he struck the rock with his foot, and a stream
of water issued forth in great abundance. The
miracle had a powerful effect on the minds of his
hearers, and many became converts to the new
religion. This fountain is still distinguished by the
name of Columba, and is considered of superior
efficacy in the cure of diseases. When the Catholic
form of worship prevailed in that country it was
greatly resorted to, and old persons yet remember
to have seen offerings left at the fountain in grati-
tude for benefits received from the benignant in-
fluence of the Saint's blessing on the water. At
length it is said that a daughter of Donald, the son
of Connal, expressed a wish to be baptized, and the
father restrained her by violence. He also, with the
aid of the Druids, forced Columba to take refuge in
his boat, and the holy man departed for lona, after
warning the inhospitable Caledonian to prepare for
another world, as his life would soon terminate.
The Saint was at sea during the whole night,
which was stormy; and when approaching the
shores of his own sacred island the followins
Scotch. T-,
82 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
morning, a vast number of ravens were observed
flying over the boat, chasing another of extraordinary
large size. The croaking of the ravens aAvoke the
Saint, who had been sleeping; and he instantly
exclaimed that the son of Connal had just expired,
which was afterwards ascertained to be true.
A very large Christian establishment appears to
have been afterwards formed in the Bay of Cells ;
and the remains of a chapel, dedicated to Saint
Kiaran, are still to be seen there. It is the favourite
place of interment among the Catholics of this day.
Indeed, Columba and many of his successors seem
to have adopted the jDolicy of engrafting their insti-
tutions on those which had formerly existed in the
country. Of this there are innumerable instances,
at least we observe the ruins of both still visible in
many places ; even in lona Ave find the burying-
gx'ound of the Druids known at the present day.
This practice may have had advantages at the time,
but it must have been ultimately productive of many
corruptions ; and, in a great measure, accounts for
many superstitious and absurd customs which pre-
vailed among that people to a very recent period,
and which are not yet entirely extinct. In a very
ancient family in that country two round balls of
coarse glass have been carefully preserved from time
immemorial, and to these have been ascribed many
virtues — amongst others, the cure of any extraordi-
nary disease among cattle. The balls were immersed
SAINT COLUMBA. 83
in cold water for three days and nights, and the
water was afterwards sprinkled over all the cattle ;
this Avas exjDected to cure those affected, and to pre-
vent the disease in the rest. From the names and
appearance of these balls, there is no doubt that they
had been symbols vised by the Archdruids.
Within a short distance of the Bay of Cells there
is a cave very remarkable in its appearance, and still
more so from the purposes to which it has been
appropriated. Saint Columba, on one of his many
voyages among the Hebrides, was benighted on this
rocky coast, and the mariners were alarmed for their
own safety. The Saint assured them that neither
he nor his crew would ever be drowned. They
unexpectedly discovered a light at no great distance,
and to that they directed their course. Columba's
boat consisted of a frame of osiers, which was
covered with hides of leather, and it was received
into a very narrow creek close to this cave. After
returning thanks for their escape, the Saint and his
people had great difficulty in climbing up to the
cave, which is elevated considerably above sea.
They at length got sight of the fire which had first
attracted their attention. Several persons sat around
it, and their appearance was not much calculated to
please the holy man. Their aspects were fierce, and
they had on the fire some flesh roasting over the
coals. The Saint gave them his benediction ; and
he was invited to sit down among them and to shnre
84 SCOTCH FOLKLOKE TALES.
their hurried repast, with which he gladly complied.
They were freebooters, who lived by plunder and
robbery, and this Columba soon discovered. He
advised them to forsake that course, and to be con-
verted to his doctrines, to which they all assented,
and in the morning they accompanied the Saint on
his voyage homeward. This circumstance created a
high veneration for the cave among the disciples and
successors of Columba, and that veneration still con-
tinues, in some degree. In one side of it there was
a cleft of the rock, where lay the water with which
the freebooters had been baptized ; and this was
afterwards formed by art into a basin, which is
supplied with Avater by drops from the roof of the
cave. It is alleged never to be empty or to overflow,
and the most salubrious qualities are ascribed to it.
To obtain the benefit of it, however, the votaries
must undergo a very severe ordeal. They must
be in the cave before daylight ; they stand on
the spot where the Saint first landed his boat,
and nine waves must dash over their heads ;
they must afterwards pass through nine openings
in the walls of the cave ; and, lastly, they must
swallow nine mouthfuls out of the holy basin.
After invoking the aid of the Saint, the votaries
within three weeks are either relieved by death
or by recovery. Offerings are left in a certain
place appropriated for that purpose; and these
arc sometimes of considerable value, nor are they
SAINT COLUMBA. 85
ever abstracted. Strangers are always informed
that a young man, who had wantonly taken away
some of these not many years since, broke his leg
before he got home, and this affords the property of
the Saint ample protection.
THE MEEMAID WIFE.
A STORY is told of an inhabitant of Unst, who, in
walking on the sandy margin of a voe, saw a
number of mermen and mermaids dancing by moon-
light, and several seal-skins strewed beside them
on the ground. At his approach they immediately
fled to secure their garbs, and, taking upon them-
selves the form of seals, plunged immediately into
the sea. But as the Shetlander perceived that one
skin lay close to his feet, he snatched it up, bore it
swiftly away, and placed it in concealment. On
returning to the shore he met the fairest damsel
that was ever gazed upon by mortal eyes, lamenting
the robbery, by which she had become an exile from
her submarine friends, and a tenant of the upper
world. Vainly she implored the restitution of her
property ; the man had drunk deeply of love, and
was inexorable ; but he offered her protection be-
neath his roof as his betrothed spouse. The mer-
lady, perceiving that she must become an inhabitant
of the earth, found that she could not do better
than accept of the oflfer. This strange attachment
86
THE MERMAID WIFE. 87
subsisted for many years, and the couple had
several children. The Shetlander's love for his
raerwife was unbounded, but his affection was
coldly returned. The lady would often steal alone
to the desert strand, and, on a signal being given,
a large seal would make his appearance, with whom
she would hold, in an unknown tongue, an anxious
conference. Years had thus glided away, when it
happened that one of the children, in the course of
his play, found concealed beneath a stack of corn a
seal's skin ; and, delighted with the prize, he ran
with it to his mother. Her eyes glistened with
rapture — she gazed upon it as her own — as the
means by which she could pass through the ocean
that led to her native home. She burst forth into
an ecstasy of joy, which was only moderated when
she beheld her children, whom she was now about to
leave ; and, after hastily embracing them, she fled
with all speed towards the seaside. The husband
immediately returned, learned the discovery that
had taken place, ran to overtake his wife, but only
arrived in time to see her transformation of shape
completed — to see her, in the form of a seal, bound
from the ledge of a rock into the sea. The large
animal of the same kind with whom she had held a
secret converse soon appeared, and evidently con-
gratulated her, in the most tender manner, on her
escape. But before she dived to unknown depths,
she cast a parting glance at the wretched Shetland er,
88 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
whose despairing looks excited in her breast a few
transient feelings of commiseration.
"Farewell !" said she to him, " and may all good
attend you. I loved you very well when I resided
upon earth, but I always loved my first husband
much better,"
THE FIDDLEE AND THE BOGLE OF
BOGANDORAN.
" Late one night, as my grand-uncle, Lachlan Dim
Macpherson, who was well known as the best fiddler
of his day, was returning home from a ball, at
which he had acted as a musician, he had occasion
to pass through the once-haunted Bog of Torrans.
Now, it happened at that time that the bog was
frequented by a huge bogle or ghost, who was of a
most mischievous disposition, and took particular
pleasure in abusing every traveller who had occasion
to pass through the place betwixt the twilight at
night and cock-crowing in the morning. Suspecting
much that he would also come in for a share of his
"abuse, my grand-uncle made up his mind, in the
course of his progress, to return the ghost any
civilities which he might think meet to offer him.
On arriving on the spot, he found his suspicions
were too well grounded ; for whom did he see but
the ghost of Bogandoran apparently ready waiting
him, and seeming by his ghastly grin not a little
overjoyed at the meeting. Marching up to my
S9
90 SCOTCH FOLKLOKE TALES.
grand-uucle, the bogle clapped a huge club into his
hand, and furnishing himself with one of the same
dimensions, he put a spittle in his hand, and de-
liberately commenced the combat. My grand-uncle
returned the salute with equal spirit, and so ably
did both parties ply their batons that for a while
the issue of the combat was extremely doubtful.
At length, however, the fiddler could easily discover
that his opponent's vigour was much in the fagging
order. Picking up renewed courage in consequence,
he plied the ghost with renewed force, and after a
stout resistance, in the course of Avhich both parties
were seriously handled, the ghost of Bogandoran
thought it prudent to give up the night.
" At the same time, filled no doubt with great in-
dignation at this signal defeat, it seems the ghost
resolved to re-engage my grand-uncle on some other
occasion, under more favourable circumstances. Not
long after, as my grand-uncle was returning home
quite unattended from another ball in the Braes of
the country, he had just entered the hollow of
Auldichoish, well known for its ' eerie ' properties,
when, lo ! who presented himself to his view on the
adjacent eminence but his old friend of Bogandoran,
advancing as large as the gable of a house, and
putting himself in the most threatening and fighting
attitudes.
" Looking at the very dangerous nature of the
ground where they had met, and feeling no anxiety
THE FIDDLER AND THE BOGLE. 91
for a second encounter with a combatant of his
weight, in a situation so little desirable, the fiddler
would have willingly deferred the settlement of
their differences till a more convenient season. He,
accordingly, assuming the most submissive aspect in
the world, endeavoured to pass by his champion in
peace, but in vain. Longing, no doubt, to retrieve
the disgrace of his late discomfiture, the bogle in-
stantly seized the fiddler, and attempted with all
his might to pull the latter down the precipice,
with the diabolical intention, it is supposed, of
drowning him in the river Avon below. In this
pious design the bogle was happily frustrated by the
intervention of some trees which grew on the preci-
pice, and to which my unhappy grand-uncle clung
with the zeal of a drowning man. The enraged
ghost, finding it impossible to extricate him from
those friendly trees, and resolving, at all events, to
be revenged upon him, fell upon maltreating the
tiddler with his hands and feet in the most inhuman
manner.
" Such gross indignities my worthy grand-uncle
was not accustomed to, and being incensed beyond
all measure at the liberties taken by Bogandoran,
he resolved again to try his mettle, whether life or
death should be the consequence. Having no other
weapon wherewith to defend himself but his hiodag,
which, considering the nature of his opponent's
constitution, he suspected much would be of little
92 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
avail to him — I say, in the absence of any other
weapon, he sheathed the hioclag three times in the
ghost of Bogandoran's body. And what was the
consequence? Why, to the great astonishment of
my courageous forefather, the ghost fell down cold
dead at his feet, and was never more seen or
heard of."
THOMAS THE EHYMEE.
Thomas, of Ercildoun, in Lauderdale, called the
Rhymer, on account of his producing a poetical
romance on the subject of Tristrem and Yseult,
which is curious as tlie earliest sj)ecimen of English
verse known to exist, flourished in the reign of
Alexander in. of Scotland. Like other men of
talent of the period, Thomas was suspected of
magic. He was also said to have the gift of
prophecy, which was accounted for in the following
peculiar manner, referring entirely to the Elfin
superstition.
As Thomas lay on Huntly Bank (a place on the
descent of the Eildon Hills, which raise their triple
crest above the celebrated monastery of Melrose),
he saw a lady so extremely beautiful that he ima-
gined she must be the Virgin Mary herself. Her
appointments, however, were those rather of an
amazon, or goddess of the woods. Her steed was
of the highest beauty, and at its mane hung thirty
silver bells and nine, which were music to the wind
93
94 SCOTCH FOLKLOKE TALES.
as she paced along. Her saddle was of " royal
bone " (ivory), laid over with " orfeverie " (gold-
smith's work). Her stirrups, her dress, all cor-
responded with her extreme beauty and the mag-
nificence of her array. The fair huntress had her
bow in hand, and her arrows at her belt. She led
three greyhounds in a leash, and three raches, or
hounds of scent, followed her closely.
She rejected and disclaimed the homage which
Thomas desired to pay her ; so that, passing from
one extremity to the other, Thomas became as bold
as he had at first been humble. The lady warned
him he must become her slave if he wished to pro-
secute his suit. Before their interview terminated,
the appearance of the beautiful lady was changed
into that of the most hideous hag in existence. A
witch from the spital or almshouse would have
been a goddess in comparison to the late beautiful
huntress. Hideous as she was, Thomas felt that he
had placed himself in the power of this hag, and
when she bade him take leave of the sun, and of
the leaf that grew on the tree, he felt himself under
the necessity of obeying her. A cavern received
them, in which, following his frightful guide, he for
three days travelled in darkness, sometimes hearing
the booming of a distant ocean, sometimes walking
through rivers of blood, which crossed their sub-
terranean path. At length they emerged into day-
light, in a most beautiful orchard. Thomas, almost
THOMAS THE RHYMER. 95
fainting for want of food, stretched out his hand
towards the goodly fruit which hung around him,
but was forbidden by his conductress, who informed
him that these were the fatal apples which were the
cause of the fall of man. He perceived also that his
guide had no sooner entered this mysterious ground
and breathed its magic air than she was revived
in beauty, equipage, and splendour, as fair or fairer
than he had first seen her on the mountain. She
then proceeded to explain to him the character of
the country.
"Yonder right-hand path," she says, "conveys
the spirits of the blest to paradise. Yon downward
and well-worn way leads sinful souls to the place of
everlasting punishment. The third road, by yonder
dark brake, conducts to the milder place of pain,
from which prayer and mass may release offenders.
But see you yet a fourth road, sweeping along the
plain to yonder splendid castle 1 Yonder is the road
to Elfland, to which we are now bound. The lord
of the castle is king of the country, and I am his
queen ; and when we enter yonder castle, you must
observe strict silence, and answer no question that
is asked you, and I will account for your silence by
saying I took your speech when I brought you from
middle earth."
Having thus instructed him, they journeyed on
to the castle, and, entering by the kitchen, founil
themselves in the midst of such a festive scene as
96 SCOTCH FOLKLOKE TALES.
might become the mansion of a great feudal lord or
prince.
Thirty carcasses of deer were lying on the massive
kitchen board, under the hands of numerous cooks,
who toiled to cut them up and dress them, while
the gigantic greyhounds which had taken the spoil
lay lapping the blood, and enjoying the sight of the
slain game. They came next to the royal hall,
where the king received his loving consort ; knights
and ladies, dancing by threes, occupied the floor of
the hall ; and Thomas, the fatigue of his journey
from the Eildon Hills forgotten, went forward and
joined in the revelry. After a period, however,
which seemed to him a very short one, the queen
spoke with him apart, and bade him prepare to
return to his own country.
" Now," said the queen, " how long think you that
you have been here ? "
" Certes, fair lady," answered Thomas, " not above
these seven days."
"You are deceived," answered the queen; "you
have been seven years in this castle, and it is full
time you were gone. Know, Thomas, that the
archfiend will come to this castle to-morrow to de-
mand his tribute, and so handsome a man as yovk
will attract his eye. For all the world would I not
suffer you to be betrayed to such a fate ; therefore
up, and let us be going."
This terrible news reconciled Thomas to his do-
THOMAS THE RHYMEK. 97
parture from Elfinlaud; and the queen was not
long in placing him upon Huntly Bank, where the
birds were singing. She took leave of him, and to
ensure his reputation bestowed on him the tongue
which could not lie. Thomas in vain objected to this
inconvenient and involuntary adhesion to veracity,
which would make him, as he thought, unfit for
church or for market, for king's court or for lady's
bower. But all his remonstrances were disregarded
by the lady; and Thomas the Rhymer, whenever
the discourse turned on the future, gained the credit
of a prophet whether he would or not, for he could
say nothing but what was sure to come to pass.
Thomas remained several years in his own tower
near Ercildouu, and enjoyed the fame of his pre-
dictions, several of which are current among the
country people to this day. At length, as the
prophet was entertaining the Earl of March in his
dwelling, a cry of astonishment arose in the village,
on the appearance of a hart and hind, which left
the forest, and, contrary to their shy nature, came
quietly onward, traversing the village towards the
dwelling of Thomas, The prophet instantly rose
from the board, and acknowledging the prodigy as
^the summons of his fate, he accompanied the hart
and hind into the forest, and though occasionally
seen by individuals to whom he has chosen to snow
himself, he has never again mixed familiarly with
mankind.
Scotch. p
FAIRY FRIENDS.
It is a good thing to befiienJ tlie fairies, as the
following stories show : —
There have been from time immemorial at Hawick,
during the two or three last weeks of the year,
markets once a week, for the disposal of sheep for
slaughter, at which the greater number of people,
both in the middle and poorer classes of life, have
been accustomed to provide themselves with their
marts. A poor man from Jedburgh who was on his
way to Hawick for the purpose of attending one of
these markets, as he was passing over that side of
Rubislaw which is nearest the Teviot, was suddenly
alarmed by a frightful and unaccountable noise.
The sound, as he supposed, proceeded from an
immense number of female voices, but no objects
whence it could come were visible. Amidst howl-
ing and wailing were mixed shouts of mirth and
jollity, but he could gather nothing articulate except
the following words —
" O there 's a bairn born, but there 's naething to
pit on 't."
93
FAIRY FRIENDS. 99
The occasion of this elfish concert, it seemed, wag
the birth of a fairy child, at which the fairies, Avith
the exception of two or three who were discomposed
at having nothing to cover the little innocent with,
were enjoying themselves with that joviality usually
characteristic of such an event. The astonished
rustic finding himself amongst a host of invisible
beings, in a wild moorland place, and far from any
human assistance, should assistance be required,
full of the greatest consternation, immediately on
hearing this expression again and again vociferated,
stripped off his plaid, and threw it on the ground.
It was instantly snatched up by an invisible hand,
and the wailings immediately ceased, but the shouts
of mirth were continued with increased vigour.
Being of opinion that Avhat he had done had satisfied
his invisible friends, he lost no time in making off,
and proceeded on his road to Hawick, musing on his
singular adventure. He purchased a sheep, which
turned out a remarkably good bargain, and returned
to Jedburgh. He had no cause to regret his
generosity in bestowing his plaid on the fairies, for
every day afterwards his wealth multiplied, and he
continued till the day of his death a rich and pro-
sperous man.
About the beginning of harvest, there having been
a want bf meal for shearers bread in the farmhouse
of Bedrule, a small quantity of barley (being all
100 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
that was yet ripe) was cut down, and converted into
meal. Mrs. Buckham, the farmer's wife, rose
early in the morning to bake the bread, and, while
she was engaged in baking, a little woman in green
costume came in, and, with much politeness, asked
for a loan of a capful of meal. Mrs. Buckham
thought it prudent to comply with her request. In
a short time afterwards the woman in green returned
with an equal quantity of meal, which Mrs. Buck-
ham put into the meal-ark. This meal had such
a lasting quality, that from it alone the gudewife of
Bedrule baked as much bread as served her own
family and the reapers throughout the harvest, and
when harvest was over it was not exhausted.
THE SEAL-CATCHER'S ADVENTURE.
There was once upon a time a man who lived
upon the northern coasts, not far from " Taigh Jan
Crot Callow " (John-o'-Groat's House), and he gained
his livelihood by catching and killing fish, of all
sizes and denominations. He had a particular liking
for the killing of those wonderful beasts, half dog
half fish, called " Roane," or seals, no doubt because
he got a long price for their skins, which are not
less curious than they are valuable. The truth is,
that the most of these animals are neither dogs nor
cods, but doAvnright fairies, as this narration will
show ; and, indeed, it is easy for any man to con-
vince himself of the fact by a simple examination of
his tobacco-splukhdan, for the dead skins of those
beings are never the same for four-and-twenty hours
together. Sometimes the sjplukhdan will erect its
bristles almost perpendicularly, while, at other
times, it reclines them even down ; one time it
resembles a bristly sow, at another time a skelcit cat ;
and what dead skin, except itself, could perform
such cantrips ? Now, it happened one day, as this
101
102 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
notable fisher had returned from the prosecution of
his calling, that he was called upon by a man who
seemed a great stranger, and who said he had been
despatched for him by a person Avho wished to con-
tract for a quantity of seal-skins, and that the fisher
must accompany him (the stranger) immediately to
see the person who wished to contract for the skins,
as it was necessary that he should be served that
evening. Happy in the pros2:)ect of making a good
bargain, and never suspecting any duplicity, he
instantly complied. They both mounted a steed
belonging to the stranger, and took the road with
such velocity that, although the direction of the
wind was towards their backs, yet the fleetness of
their movement made it appear as if it had been in
their faces. On reaching a stupendous precipice
which overhung the sea, his guide told him they
had now reached their destination.
"Where is the person you spoke of?" inquired
the astonished seal-killer.
" You shall see that presently," replied the guide.
With that they immediately alighted, and, with-
out allowing the seal-killer much time to indulge
the frightful suspicions that began to pervade his
mind, the stranger seized him with irresistible force,
and plunged headlong with him into the sea. After
sinking down, down, nobody knows how far, they
at length reached a door, which, being open, led
them into a range of apartments, filled with inhabi-
THE seal-catcher's ADVENTURE. 103
tants' — not people, but seals, who could nevertheless
speak and feel like human folk ; and how much was
the seal-killer surprised to find that he himself
had been unconsciously transformed into the like
image. If it were not so, he would probably have
died from the want of breath. The nature of the
poor fisher's thoughts may be more easily conceived
than described. Looking at the nature of the
quarters into which he had landed, all hopes of
escape from them appeared wholly chimerical, whilst
the degree of comfort, and length of life which the
barren scene promised him were far from being
flattering. The " Eoane," who all seemed in very
low spirits, appeared to feel for him, and endeavoured
to soothe the distress which he evinced by the
amplest assurances of personal safety. Involved in
sad meditation on his evil fate, he Avas quickly
roused from his stupor by his guide's producing
a huge gully or joctaleg, the object of which he
supposed was to put an end to all his earthly cares.
Forlorn as was his situation, however, he did not
wish to be killed ; and, apprehending instant de-
struction, he fell down, and earnestly implored for
mercy. The poor generous animals did not mean
him any harm, however much his former conduct
deserved it, and he was accordingly desired to
pacify himself, and cease his cries.
" Did you ever see that knife before 1 " said the
stranger to the fisher.
104 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
The latter instantly recognised his own knife,
which he had that day stuck into a seal, and with
which it had escaped, and acknowledged it was
formerly his own, for what would be the use of
denying it 1
" Well," rejoined the guide, " the apparent seal
which made away with it is my father, who has
lain dangerously ill ever since, and no means can
stay his fleeting breath without your aid. I have
been obliged to resort to the artifice I have practised
to bring you hither, and I trust that my filial duty
to my father will readily excuse me."
Having said this, he led into another apartment
the trembling seal-killer, who expected every minute
to be punished for his own ill-treatment of the
father. There he found the identical seal with
which he had had the encounter in the morning,
suffering most grievously from a tremendous cut in
its hind-quarter. The seal-killer was then desired,
with his hand, to cicatrise the wound, upon doing
which it immediately healed, and the seal arose
from its bed in perfect health. Upon this the scene
changed from mourning to rejoicing — all was mirth
and glee. Very different, however, were the feelings
of the unfortunate seal-catcher, who expected no
doubt to be metamorphosed into a seal for the re-
mainder of his life. However, his late guide accost-
ing him, said —
"Now, sir, you are at liberty to return to your
THE seal-catcher's ADVENTURE. 105
wife and family, to whom I am about to conduct
you ; but it is on this express condition, to which
you must bind yourself by a solemn oath, viz. that
you will never maim or kill a seal in all your life-
time hereafter."
To this condition, hard as it was, he joyfully
acceded ; and the oath being administered in all
due form, he bade his new acquaintance most
heartily and sincerely a long farewell. . Taking
hold of his guide, they issued from the place and
swam up, till they regained the surface of the sea,
and, landing at the said stupendous pinnacle, they
found their former steed ready for a second canter.
The guide breathed upon the fisher, and they be-
came like men. They mounted their horse, and
fleet as had been their course towards the preci-
pice, their return from it was doubly swift; and
the honest seal-killer was laid down at his own
door-cheek, where his guide made him such a
present as would have almost reconciled him to
another similar expedition, such as rendered his
loss of profession, in so far as regarded the seals, a
far less intolerable hardship than he had at first
considered it.
THE FAIEIES OF MERLIN'S CEAIG.
Early in the seventeenth century, John Smith, a
barn-man at a farm, was sent by his master to cast
divots (turf) on the green immediately behind Mer-
lin's Craig. After having laboured for a consider-
able time, there came round from the front of the
rock a little woman, about eighteen inches in height,
clad in a green gown and red stockings, with long
yellow hair hanging down to her waist, who asked
the astonished operator how he would feel were she
to send her husband to tir (uncover) his house, at
the same time commanding him to place every divot
he had cast in statu quo. John obeyed with fear
and trembling, and, returning to his master, told
what had happened. The farmer laughed at his
credulity, and, anxious to cure him of such idle
superstition, ordered him to take a cart and fetch
home the divots immediately.
John obeyed, although with much reluctance.
Nothing happened to him in consequence till that
day twelve months, when he left his master's work
at the usual hour in the evening, with a small stoup
106
THE FAIRIES OF MERLIN'S CRAIG. 107
of milk in his hand, but he did not reach home, nor
was he ever heard of for years (I have forgotten
how many), when, upon the anniversary of that
unfortunate day, John walked into his house at the
usual hour, with the milk-stoup in his b.and.
The account that he gave of his captivity was
that, on the evening of that eventful day, returning
home from his labour, when passing Merlin's Craig,
he felt himself suddenly taken ill, and sat down to
rest a little. Soon after he fell asleep, and awoke,
as he supposed, about midnight, when there was a
troop of male and female fairies dancing round him.
They insisted upon his joining in the sport, and
gave him the finest girl in the company as a part-
ner. She took him by the hand ; they danced three
times round in a fairy ring, after which he became
so happy that he felt no inclination to leave his
new associates. Their amusements were protracted
till he heard his master's cock crow, when the whole
troop immediately rushed forward to the front of
the craig, hurrying him along with them. A door
opened to receive them, and he continued a prisoner
until the evening on which he returned, when the
same woman who had first appeared to him when
casting divots came and told him that the grass was
again green on the roof of her house, which he had
tirred, and if he would swear an oath, which she
dictated, never to discover what he had seen in fairy-
land, he should be at liberty to return to his family.
108 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
John took the oath, and obsorvoilit most rolii:iously,
jilthough sadly teased and questioned by his help-
mate, particularly about the " bonnie lassie " with
whom he danced on the night of his departure. He
was also observed to walk a mile out of his way
rather than pass ^lerlin's Craig when the sun w;is
below the horizon.
On a subsequent occasion the tiny inhabitants of
Merlin's Craig surprised a shepherd when watching
his fold at night ; he was asleep, and his bonnet
had fallen olY and rolled to some little distance.
He was awakened by the fairies dancing round him
in a circle, and was induced to join them ; but re-
collecting the fate of John Smith, he would not
allow his female companion to take hold of his
luinds. In the midst of their gambols they came
close to the hillock where the shepherd's bonnet
lay, — he atlected to stumble, fell upon his bonnet,
which he immediately seized, clapping it on his
head, when the whole troop instantly vanished.
This exorcism was produced by the talismanic power
of a Catechism containing the Lord's Prayer and
the Apostles' Creed, which the shepherd most for-
tunately recollected was deposited in the crown ot
his bonnet.
ROEY MACGILLIVEAY.
Once upon a time a tenant in the neighbourhood of
Cairngorm, in Strathspey, emigrated with his family
and cattle to the forest of Glenavon, which is well
known to be inhabited by many fairies as well as
ghosts. Two of his sons being out late one night
in search of some of their sheep which had strayed,
had occasion to pass a fairy turret, or dwelling, of
very large dimensions ; and what was their astonish-
ment on observing streams of the most refulgent
light shining forth through innumerable crevices in
the rock — crevices which the sharpest eye in the
country had never seen before. Curio.sity led them
towards the turret, when they were charmed by the
most exquisite sounds ever emitted by a fiddle-
string, which, joined to the sportive mirth and glee
accompanying it, reconciled them in a great measure
to the scene, although they knew well enough the
inhabitants of the nook were fairies. Xay, over-
powered by the enchanting jigs played by the fiddler,
one of the brothers had even the hardihood to
propose that they should pay the occupants of the
100
110 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
turret a short visit. To this motion the otner
brother, fond as he was of dancing, and animated
as he was by the music, would by no means consent,
and he earnestly desired his brother to restrain
his curiosity. But every new jig that was played,
and every new reel that was danced, inspired the
adventurous brother with additional ardour, and at
length, completely fascinated by the enchanting
revelry, leaving all prudence behind, at one leap he
entered the " Shian." The poor forlorn brother was
now left in a most uncomfortable situation. His
grief for the loss of a brother whom he dearly
loved suggested to him more than once the desperate
idea of sharing his fate by following his example.
But, on the other hand, when he coolly considered
the possibility of sharing very different entertain-
ment from that which rang upon his ears, and
remembered, too, the comforts and convenience of
his father's fireside, the idea immediately appeared
to him anything but prudent. After a long and
disasrreeable altercation between his affection for his
brother and his regard for himself, he came to the
resolution to take a middle course, that is, to shout
in at the window a few remonstrances to his brother,
which, if he did not attend to, let the consequences
be upon his own head. Accordingly, taking his
station at one of the crevices, and calling ui^on his
brother three several times by name, as use is. he
uttered the most moving pieces of elocution he could
RORY MACGILLIVRAY, 111
think of, imploring him, as he valued his poor
parents' life and blessing, to come forth and go home
with him, Donald Macgillivray, his thrice affectionate
and unhappy brother. But whether it was the
dancer could not hear this eloquent harangue, or,
what is more probable, that he did not choose to
attend to it, certain it is that it proved totally
ineffectual to accomplish its object, and the conse-
quence was that Donald Macgillivray found it
equally his duty and his interest to return home to
his family with the melancholy tale of poor Rory's
fate. All the prescribed ceremonies calculated to
rescue him from the fairy dominion were resorted
to by his mourning relatives without effect, and
Rory was supposed lost for ever, when a "wise
man " of the day having learned the circumstance,
discovered to his friends a plan by which they
might deliver him at the end of twelve months from
his entry.
"Return," says the Duin GUM to Donald, "to
the place where you lost your brother a year and a
day from the time. You will insert in your gar-
ment a Rowan Cross, which will protect you from
tlie fairies' interposition. Enter the turret boldly
and resolutely in the name of the Highest, claim
your brother, and, if he does not accompany you
voluntarily, seize him and carry him off by force —
none dare interfere with you."
The experiment appeared to the cautious con-
112 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
templative brother as one that was fraught with no
ordinary danger, and he would have most willingly
declined the prominent character allotted to him in
the performance but for the importunate entreaty
of his friends, who implored him, as he valued their
blessing, not to slight such excellent advice. Their
entreaties, together with his confidence in the
virtues of the Rowan Cross, overcame his scruples,
and he at length agreed to put the experiment in
practice, whatever the result might be.
Well, then, the important day arrived, when the
father of the two sons was destined either to recover
his lost son, or to lose the only son he had, and,
anxious as the father felt, Donald Macgillivray, the
intended adventurer, felt no less so on the occasion.
The hour of midnight approached when the drama
was to be acted, and Donald JMacgillivray, loaded
with all the charms and benedictions in his country,
took mournful leave of his friends, and proceeded to
the scene of his intended enterprise. On approach-
ing the well-known turret, a repetition of that mirth
and those ravishing sounds, that had been the
source of so much sorrow to himself and family,
once more attracted his attention, without at all
creating in his mind any extraordinary feelings of
satisfaction. On the contrary, he abhorred the
sounds most heartily, and felt much greater inclina-
tion to recede than to advance. But what was to
be done 1 Coui'age, character, and everything dear
RORY MACGILLIVilAY. Il3
to him were at stake, so that to advance was his
only alternative. In short, he reached the " Shian,"
and, after twenty fruitless attempts, he at length
entered the place with trembling footsteps, and
amidst the brilliant and jovial scene the not least
gratifying spectacle which presented itself to Donald
was his brother Rory earnestly engaged at the
Highland fling on the floor, at which, as might
have been expected, he had greatly improved.
Without losing much time in satisfying his curiosity
by examining the quality of the company, Donald
ran to his brother, repeating, most vehemently, the
words prescribed to him by the " wise man," seized
him by the collar, and insisted on his immediately
accompanying him home to his poor afflicted parents.
Eory assented, provided he would allow him to
finish his single reel, assuring Donald, very
earnestly, that he had not been half an hour in the
house. In vain did the latter assure him that,
instead of half an hour, he had actually remained
twelve months. Nor would he have believed his
overjoyed friends when his brother at length got
him home, did not the calves, now grown into stots,
and the new-born babes, now travelling the house,
at length convince him that in his single reel he
had danced for a twelvemonth and a day.
Scotch.
H
THE HAUNTED SHIPS.
" Though my mind 's not
Hoodwinked with rustic marvels, I do think
There are more things in the grove, the air, the flood,
Yea, and the charnelled earth, thau what wise man,
Who walks so proud as if his form alone
Filled the wide temple of the imiverse,
Will let a frail mind say. I 'd write i' the creed
O' the sagest head alive, that fearful forms.
Holy or reprobate, do page men's heels ;
That shapes, too horrid for our gaze, stand o'er
The murderer's dust, and for revenge glare up,
Even till the stars weep tire for very pity."
Along the sea of Solway, romantic on the Scottish
side, with its woodland, its bays, its cliffs, and head-
lands ; and interesting on the English side, with its
many beautiful towns with their shadows on the
water, rich pastures, safe harbours, and numerous
shijis, there still linger many traditional stories of
a maritime nature, most of them connected with
superstitions singularly wild and unusual. To the
curious these tales afford a rich fund of entertain-
ment, from the many diversities of the same story ;
some dry and barren, and stripped of all the embel-
lishments of poetry ; others dressed out in all the
114
THE HAUNTED SHIPS. 115
riches of a superstitious belief and haunted imagina-
tion. In this they resemble the inland traditions
of the peasants ; but many of the oral treasures of
the Galwegian or the Cumbrian coast have the
stamp of the Dane and the Norseman upon them,
and claim but a remote or faint affinity with the
legitimate legends of Caledonia. Something like a
rude prosaic outline of several of the most noted of
the northern ballads, the adventures and depreda-
tions of the old ocean kings, still lends life to the
evening tale ; and, among others, the story of the
Haunted Ships is still popular among the maritime
peasantry.
One fine harvest evening I went on board the
shallop of Richard Faulder, of Allanbay, and, com-
mitting ourselves to the waters, we allowed a gentle
wind from the east to waft us at its pleasure
towards the Scottish coast. We passed the sharp
promontory of Siddick, and, skirting the land
within a stonecast, glided along the shore till we
came within sight of the ruined Abbey of Sweet-
heart. The green mountain of CrifFel ascended
beside us ; and the bleat of the flocks from its
summit, together with the winding of the evening
horn of the reapers, came softened into something
like music over land and sea. We pushed our
shallop into a deep and wooded bay, and sat silently
looking on the serene beauty of the place. The
moon glimmered in her rising through the tall
116 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
shafts of the pines of Caerlaverock ; and the sky,
with scarce a cloud, showered down on wood and
headland and bay the twinkling beams of a thou-
sand stars, rendering every ol)ject visible. The tide,
too, was coming with that swift and silent swell
observable when the wind is gentle; the woody
curves along the land were filling Avitli the flood,
till it touched the green branches of the drooping
trees ; while in the centre current the roll and the
plunge of a thousand pellocks told to the experienced
fisherman that salmon were abundant.
As we looked, we saw an old man emerging from
a path that wound to the shore through a grove of
doddered hazel ; he carried a halve-net on his back,
while behind him came a girl, bearing a small
harpoon, Avith which the fishers' are remarkably
dexterous in striking their prey. The senior seated
himself on a large grey stone, which overlooked the
bay, laid aside his bonnet, and submitted his bosom
and neck to the refreshing sea breeze, and, taking
his harpoon from his attendant, sat with the gravity
and comiDosure of a spirit of the flood, with his
ministering nymph behind him. We pushed our
shallop to the shore, and soon stood at their side.
" This is old Mark Macmoran the mariner, with
his granddaughter Barbara," said Kichard Faulder,
in a whisper that had something of fear in it ; " he
knows every creek and cavern and quicksand iu
Solway ; has seen the Spectre Hound that haunts
THE HAUNTED SHIPS. 117
the Isle of Man ; has heard him bark, and at every
bark has seen a ship sink ; and he has seen, too, the
Haunted Ships in full sail ; and, if all tales be true,
he has sailed in them himself; — he's an awful
person."
Though I perceived in the communication of my
friend something of the superstition of the sailor, I
could not help thinking that common rumour had
made a happy choice in singling out old Mark to
maintain her intercourse with the invisible world.
His hair, which seemed to have refused all inter-
course Avith the comb, hung matted upon his
shoulders ; a kind of mantle, or rather blanket,
pinned with a wooden skewer round his neck, fell
mid-leg down, concealing all his nether garments as
far as a pair of hose, darned with yarn of all con-
ceivable colours, and a pair of shoes, patched and
repaired till nothing of the original structure re-
mained, and clasped on his feet with two massy
silver buckles. If the dress of the old man was rude
and sordid, that of his granddaughter was gay, and
even rich. She wore a bodice of fine wool, wrought
round the bosom with alternate leaf and lily, and a
kirtle of the same fabric, which, almost touching her
white and delicate ankle, showed her snowy feet, so
fairy-light and round* that they scarcely seemed to
touch the grass where she stood. Her hair, a natural
ornament Avhich woman seeks much to improve, w\as
of bright glossy brown, and encumbered rather than
118 SCOTCH FOLKLOKE TALES.
adorned with a snood, set thick with marine pro-
ductions, among which the small clear pearl found
in the Solway was conspicuous. Nature had not
trusted to a handsome shape and a sylph-like air
for young Barbara's influence over the heart of man,
but had bestowed a pair of large bright blue eyes,
swimming in liquid light, so full of love and gentle-
ness and joy, that all the sailors from Annanwater
to far Saint Bees acknowledged their power, and
saner songs about the bonnie lass of Mark Macmoran.
She stood holding a small gaff-hook of polished
steel in her hand, and seemed not dissatisfied with
the glances I bestowed on her from time to time,
and which I held more than requited by a single
glance of those eyes which retained so many capri-
cious hearts in subjection.
The tide, though rapidly augmenting, had not yet
filled the bay at our feet. The moon now streamed
fairly over the tops of Caerlaverock pines, and
showed the expanse of ocean dimpling and swelling,
on which sloops and shallops came dancing, and
displaying at every turn their extent of white sail
against the beam of the moon. I looked on old
Mark the mariner, who, seated motionless on his
grey stone, kept his eye fixed on the increasing
waters with a look of seriousness and sorrow, in
Avhich I saw little of the calculating spirit of a mere
fisherman. Though he looked on the coming tide,
his eyes seemed to dwell particularly on the black
THE HAUNTED SHIPS. 119
and decayed hulls of two vessels, which, half im-
mersed in the quicksand, still addressed to every
heart a tale of shipwreck and desolation. The tide
wheeled and foamed around them, and, creeping inch
by inch up the side, at last fairly threw its waters
over the top, and a long and hollow eddy showed
the resistance which the liquid element received.
The moment they were fairly buried in the water,
the old man clasped his hands together, and said :
" Blessed be the tide that will break over and bury
ye for ever ! Sad to mariners, and sorrowful to
maids and mothers, has the time been you have
choked up this deep and bonnie bay. For evil were
you sent, and for evil have you continued. Every
season finds from you its song of sorrow and wail,
its funeral processions, and its shrouded corses.
Woe to the land where the wood grew that made
ye ! Cursed be the axe that hewed ye on the
mountains, the hands that joined ye together, the
bay that ye first swam in, and the wind that wafted
ye here ! Seven times have ye put my life in peril,
three fair sons have ye swept from my side, and two
bonnie grand-bairns ; and now, even now, your
waters foam and flash for my destruction, did I
venture my infirm limbs in quest of food in your
deadly bay. I see by that ripple and that foam,
and hear by the sound and singing of your surge,
that ye yearn for another victim ; but it shall not
be me nor mine."
120 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
Even as the old mariner addressed himself to the
wrecked shijis, a young man appeared at the southern
extremity of the bay, holding his halve-net in his
hand, and hastening into the current. Mark rose
and shouted, and waved him back from a place
which, to a person unacquainted with the dangers
of the bay, real and superstitious, seemed sufficiently
perilous ; his granddaughter, too, added her voice to
his, and waved her white hands ; but the more they
strove, the faster advanced the peasant, till he stood
to his middle in the water, while the tide increased
every moment in depth and strength. " Andrew,
Andrew," cried the young woman, in a voice quaver-
ing with emotion, " turn, turn, I tell you ! 0 the
Ships, the Haunted Ships ! " But the appearance
of a fine run of fish had more influence with the
peasant than the voice of bonnic Barbara, and
forward he dashed, net in hand. In a moment he
was borne off" his feet, and mingled like foam with
the water, and hurried towards the fatal eddies
which whirled and roared round the sunken ships.
But he was a powerful young man, and an expert
swimmer ; he seized on one of the projecting ribs of
the nearest hulk, and clinging to it with the grasp
of despair, uttered yell after yell, sustaining himself
against the prodigious rush of the current.
From a shealing of turf and straw, within the
pitch of a bar from the spot where we stood, came
out an old woman bent Avith age, and leaning on a
THE HAUNTED SHIPS. 121
crutch. " I heard the voice of that lad Andrew
Lammie ; can the chield be drowning that he skirls
sae uncannily 1 " said the old woman, seating her-
self on the ground, and looking earnestly at the
water. " Ou, ay," she continued, " he 's doomed, he 's
doomed ; heart and hand can never save him ; boats,
ropes, and man's strength and wit, all vain ! vain !
— he 's doomed, he 's doomed ! "
By this time I had thrown myself into the shallop,
followed reluctantly by Richard Faulder, over Avhose
courage and kindness of heart superstition had
great power, and with one push from the shore,
and some exertion in sculling, we came within a
quoitcast of the unfortunate fisherman. He stayed
not to profit by our aid ; for, when he perceived us
near, he uttered a piercing shriek of joy, and
bounded towards us through the agitated element
the full length of an oar. I saw him for a second
on the surface of the water, but the eddying current
sucked him down; and all I ever beheld of him
again was his hand held above the flood, and
clutching in agony at some imaginary aid. I sat
gazing in horror on the vacant sea before us ; but a
breathing-time before, a human being, full of youth
and strength and hope, was there; his cries were
still ringing in my ears, and echoing in the woods ;
and now nothing was seen or heard save the tur-
bulent expanse of water, and the sound of its
chafing on the shores. We pushed back our shallop,
122 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
and resumed our station on the cliff beside the old
mariner and his descendant.
" Wherefore sought ye to peril your own lives
fruitlessly," said Mark, "in attempting to save the
doomed 1 Whoso touches those infernal ships never
survives to tell the tale. Woe to the man who is
found nigh them at midnight when the tide has
subsided, and they arise in their former beauty,
with forecastle, and deck, and sail, and pennon, and
shroud ! Then is seen the streaming of lights along
the water from their cabin windows, and then is
heard the sound of mirth and the clamour of tongues,
and the infernal whoop and halloo and song, ring-
insr far and wide. AVoe to the man who comes
nigh them ! "
To all this my Allanbay companion listened with
a breathless attention. I felt something touched
with a superstition to which I partly believed I had
seen one victim offered up ; and I inquired of the
old mariner, " How and when came these Haunted
Ships there ] To me they seem but the melancholy
relics of some unhappy voyagers, and much more
likely to warn people to shun destruction than
entice and delude them to it."
" And so," said the old man Avith a smile, which
had more of sorrow in it than of mirth ; " and so,
young man, these black and shattered hulks seem
to the eye of the multitude. But things are not
what they seem : that water, a kind and convenient
THE HAUNTED SHIPS. 123
servant to the wants of man, which seems so smooth
and so dimpling and so gentle, has swallowed up a
human soul even now; and Hhe place which it
covers, so fair and so level, is a faithless quicksand,
out of which none escape. Things are otherwise
than they seem. Had you lived as long as I have
had the sorrow to live ; had you seen the storms,
and braved the perils, and endured the distresses
which have befallen me ; had you sat gazing out on
the dreary ocean at midnight on a haunted coast;
had you seen comrade after comrade, brother after
brother, and son after son, swept away by the
merciless ocean from your very side ; had you seen
the shapes of friends, doomed to the wave and the
quicksand, appearing to you in the dreams and
visions of the night, then would your mind have
been prepared for crediting the maritime legends of
mariners ; and the two haunted Danish ships would
have had their terrors for you, as they have for all
who sojourn on this coast.
*' Of the time and the cause of their destruction,"
continued the old man, " I know nothing certain ;
they have stood as you have seen them for un-
counted time; and while all other ships wrecked
on this unhappy coast have gone to pieces, and
rotted and sunk away in a few years, these two
haunted hulks have neither sunk in the quicksand,
nor has a single spar or board been displaced
Maritime legend says that two ships of Denmark
124 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
having had permission, for a time, to work deeds of
darkness and dolor on the deep, were at last
condemned to the whirlpool and the sunken rock,
and were wrecked in this bonnie bay, as a sign to
seamen to be gentle and devout. The night when
they were lost was a harvest evening of uncommon
mildness and beauty : the sun had newly set ; the
moon came brighter and brighter out ; and the
reapers, laying their sickles at the root of the stand-
ing corn, stood on rock and bank, looking at the
increasing magnitude of the waters, for sea and laud
wei'e visible from Saint Bees to Barnhourie. The
sails of two vessels were soon seen bent for the
Scottish coast ; and, with a speed outrunning the
swiftest ship, they approached the dangerous quick-
sands and headland of Borranpoint. On the deck
of the foremost ship not a living soul was seen, or
shape, unless something in darkness and form re-
sembling a human shadow could be called a shape,
which flitted from extremity to extremity of the
ship, with the appearance of trimming the sails, and
directing the vessel's course. But the decks of its
companion were crowded with human shapes ; the
captain and mate, and sailor and cabin-boy, all
seemed there ; and from them the sound of mirth and
minstrelsy echoed over land and water. The coast
which they skirted along was one of extreme danger,
and the reapers shouted to warn them to beware of
sandbank and rock ; but of this friendly counsel no
THE HAUNTED SHIPS, 125
notice was taken, except that a large and famished
dog, which sat on the prow, answered every shout
with a long, loud, and melancholy howl. The deep
sandbank of Carsethorn was expected to arrest the
career of these desperate navigators ; but they
passed, with the celerity of water-fowl, over an
obstruction Avhich had wrecked many pretty ships.
" Old men shook their heads and departed, saying,
' We have seen the fiend sailing in a bottomless
ship ; let us go home and pray ; ' but one young
and wilful man said, ' Fiend ! I '11 warrant it 's nae
fiend, but douce Janet Withershins the witch, hold-
ing a carouse with some of her Cumberland cum-
mers, and mickle red wine will be spilt atween
them. Dod I would gladly have a toothfu' ! I '11
warrant it 's nane o' your cauld sour slae-water
like a bottle of Bailie Skrinkie's port, but right
drap-o'-my-heart's-blood stuff, that would waken a
body out of their last linen. I wonder where the
cummers will anchor their craft ] ' 'And I '11 vow,'
said another rustic, ' the wine they quaff is none
of your visionary drink, such as a drouthie body
has dished out to his lips in a dream; nor is it
shadowy and unsubstantial, like the vessels they
sail in, which are made out of a cockel-shell or
a cast-off slipper, or the paring of a seaman's right
thumb-nail. I once got a hansel out of a witch's
quaigh myself — auld Marion Mathers, of Dustiefoot,
whom they tried to bury in the old kirkyard of
126 SCOTCH FOLKLOEE TALES.
Dunscore ; but the cummer raise as fast as they
laid her down, and naewhere else would she lie but
in the-bonnie green kirkyard of Kier, among douce
and sponsible fowk. So I '11 vow that the wine of a
witch's cup is as fell liquor as ever did a kindly
turn to a poor man's heart; and be they fiends, or
be they witches, if they have red wine asteer, I '11
risk a drouket sark for ae glorious tout on 't."
" ' Silence, ye sinners,' said the minister's son of a
neighbouring parish, who united in his oAvn person
his father's lack of devotion with his mother's love
of liquor. ' Whist ! — speak as if ye had the fear of
something holy before ye. Let the vessels run
their own way to destruction : who can stay the
eastern wind, and the current of the Solway sea ?
I can find ye Scripture warrant for that ; so let
them try their strength on Blawhooly rocks, and
their might on the broad quicksand. There's a
surf running there would knock the ribs together of
a galley built by the imps of the pit, and commanded
by the Prince of Darkness. Bonnily and bravely
they sail away there, but before the blast blows by
they '11 be wrecked ; and red wine and strong brandy
will be as rife as dyke- water, and we '11 drink the
health of bonnie Bell Blackness out of her left-foot
slipper.'
"The speech of the young profligate was ap-
plauded by several of his companions, and away
they flew to the bay of Blawhooly, from whence they
THE HAUNTED SHIPS. 127
never returned. The two vessels were observed all
at once to stop in the bosom of the bay, on the spot
where their hulls now appear ; the mirth and the
minstrelsy waxed louder than ever, and the forms
of maidens, with instruments of music and wine-
cups in their hands, thronged the decks. A boat
was lowered ; and the same shadowy pilot who con-
ducted the ships made it start towards the shore
with the rapidity of lightning, and its head knocked
against the bank where the four young men stood
who longed for the unblest drink. They leaped in
with a laugh, and with a laugh were they welcomed
on deck ; wine-cups were given to each, and as they
raised them to their lips the vessels melted away
beneath their feet, and one loud shriek, mingled
with laughter still louder, was heard over land and
water for many miles. Nothing more was heard or
seen till the morning, when the crowd who came to
the beach saw with fear and wonder the two
Haunted Ships, such as they now seem, masts and
tackle gone ; nor mark, nor sign, by Avhich their
name, country, or destination could be known, was
left remaining. Such is the tradition of the mari-
ners ; and its truth has been attested by many
families whose sons and whose fathers have been
drowned in the haunted bay of Blawhooly."
" And trow ye," said the old woman, who,
atracted from her hut by the drowning cries of the
young fisherman, had remained an auditor of the
128 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
mariner's legend, — " And trow ye, Mark JMacmoran,
that the tale of the Haunted Ships is done 1 I can
say no to that. Mickle have mine ears heard ;
but more mine eyes have witnessed since I came to
dwell in this humble home by the side of the deep
sea. I mind the night weel ; it was on Hallowmas
Eve; the nuts were cracked, and the apples were
eaten, and spell and charm were tried at my fire-
side ; till, weaz'ied with diving into the dark waves
of futurity, the lads and lasses fairly took to the
more visible blessings of kind words, tender clasps,
and gentle courtship. Soft words in a maiden's
ear, and a kindly kiss o' her lip were old-world
matters to me, Mark Macmoran ; though I mean
not to say that I have been free of the folly of
dauueriiig and daffin with a youth in my day, and
keeping tryst with him in dark and lonely places.
However, as I say, these times of enjoyment were
passed and gone with me — the mair 's the pity that
pleasure should fly sae fast away — and as I could-
na make sport I thought I should not mar any; so
out I sauntered into the fresh cold air, and sat down
behind that old oak, and looked abroad on the wide
sea. I had my ain sad thoughts, ye may think, at
the time : it was in that very bay my blythe good-
man perished, with seven more in his company;
and on that very bank where ye see the waves leap-
ing and foaming, I saw seven stately corses streeked,
but the dearest was the eighth. It was a woful
THE HAUNTED SHIPS. 129
sight to me, a widow, with four bonnie boys, with
nought to support them but these twa hands, and
God's blessing, and a cow's grass. I have never
liked to live out of sight of this bay since that
time ; and mony 's the moonlight night I sit looking
on these w^atery mountains and these waste shores ;
it does my heart good, whatever it may do to my
head. So ye see it was Hallowmas Night, and
looking on sea and land sat I ; and my heart wan-
dering to other thoughts soon made me forget my
youthful company at hame. It might be near the
howe hour of the night. The tide was making, and
its singing brought strange old-world stories with
it, and I thought on the dangers that sailors endure,
the fates they meet with, and the fearful forms they
see. My own blythe goodman had seen sights
that made him grave enough at times, though he
aye tried to laugh them away,
" Aweel, atween that very rock aneath us and
the coming tide, I saw, or thought I saw — for the
tale is so dreamlike that the whole might pass for
a vision of the night, — I saw the form of a man ;
his plaid was grey, his face was grey ; and his hair,
which hung low down till it nearly came to the
middle of his back, was as white as the white sea-
foam. He began to howk and dig under the bank ;
an' God be near me, thought I, this maun be the
unblessed spirit of auld Adam Gowdgowpin the
miser, who is doomed to dig for shipwrecked treasure,
Scotch, y
130 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
and count how many millions are hidden for ever
from man's enjoyment. The form found something
which in shape and hue seemed a left-foot slipper
of brass ; so down to the tide he marched, and,
placing it on the water, whirled it thrice round, and
the infernal slipper dilated at every turn, till it
became a bonnie barge with its sails bent, and on
board leaped the form, and scudded swiftly away.
He came to one of the Haunted Ships, and striking
it with his oar, a fair ship, with mast and canvas
and mariners, started up ; he touched the other
Haunted Ship, and produced the like transforma-
tion ; and away the three spectre ships bounded,
leaving a track of fire behind them on the billows
which was long unextinguished. Now Avasna
that a bonnie and fearful sight to see beneath the
light of the Hallowmas moon ? But the tale is
far frae finished, for mariners say that once a year,
on a certain night, if ye stand on the Borran Point,
ye will see the infernal shallops coming snoring
through the Solway ; ye will hear the same laugh and
song and mirth and minstrelsy which our ancestors
heard; see them bound over the sandbanks and
sunken rocks like sea-gulls, cast their anchor in
Blawhooly Bay, while the shadowy figure lowers
down the boat, and augments their numbers with
the four unhappy mortals to whose memory a stone
stands in the kii'kyard, with a sinking ship and a
shoreless sea cut upon it. Then the spectre ships
THE HAUNTED SHIPS. 131
vanish, and the drowning shriek of mortals and the
rejoicing laugh of fiends are heard, and the old hulls
are left as a memorial that the old spiritual king-
dom has not departed from the earth. But I maun
away, and trim my little cottage fire, and make it
burn and blaze up bonnie, to warm the crickets and
my cold and crazy bones that maun soon be laid
aneath the green sod in the eerie kirkyard." And
away the old dame tottered to her cottage, secured
the door on the inside, and soon the hearth-flame
was seen to glimmer and gleam through the keyhole
and windoAV.
" I '11 tell ye what," said the old mariner, in a
subdued tone, and with a shrewd and suspicious
glance of his eye after the old sibyl, " it 's a word
that may not very well be uttered, but there are
many mistakes made in evening stories if old Moll
Moray there, where she lives, knows not mickle
more than she is willing to tell of the Haunted Ships
and their unhallowed mariners. She lives cannily
and quietly ; no one knows how she is fed or sup-
ported ; but her dress is aye whole, her cottage ever
smokes, and her table lacks neither of wine, white
and red, nor of fowl and fish, and white bread and
brown. It was a dear scoff to Jock Matheson,
when he called old Moll the uncanny carline of
Blawhooly : his boat ran round and round in the
centre of the Solway — everybody said it was en-
chanted— and down it went head foremost; and
132 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
hadna Jock been a swimmer equal to a sheldrake,
he would have fed the fish. But I '11 warrant it
sobered the lad's speech ; and he never reckoned
himself safe till he made old Moll the present of a
new kirtle and a stone of cheese."
" 0 father ! " said his granddaughter Barbara, " ye
surely wrong poor old Mary Moray; what use
could it be to an old woman like her, who has no
wrongs to redress, no malice to work out against
mankind, and nothing to seek of enjoyment save a
canny hour and a quiet grave — Avhat use could the
fellowship of fiends and the communion of evil
spirits be to her 1 I know Jenny Primrose puts
rowan-tree above the door-head when she sees old
Mary coming ; I know the goodwife of Kittlenaket
wears rowan-berry leaves in the headband of her
blue kirtle, and all for the sake of averting the un-
sonsie glance of Mary's right ee ; and I know that
the auld Laird of Burntroutwater drives his seven
cows to their pasture with a wand of witch-tree, to
keep Mary from milking them. But what has all
that to do with haunted shallops, visionary mariners,
and bottomless boats? I have heard myself as
pleasant a tale about the Haunted Ships and their
unworldly crews as any one would wish to hear in
a winter evening. It was told me by young Benjie
Macharg, one summer night, sitting on Arbigland-
bank : the lad intended a sort of love meeting; but
all that he could talk of was about smearing sheep
THE HAUNTED SHIPS. 133
and shearing sheep, and of the wife which the
Norway elves of the Haunted Ships made for his
uncle Sandie Macharg. And I shall tell ye the tale
as the honest lad told it to me.
" Alexander Macharg, besides being the laird of
three acres of peatmoss, two kale gardens, and the
owner of seven good milch cows, a pair of horses,
and six pet sheeji, was the husband of one of the
handsomest women in seven parishes. Many a lad
sighed the day he was brided; and a Nithsdale
laird and two Annandale moorland farmers drank
themselves to their last linen, as well as their last
shilling, through sorrow for her loss. But mai-ried
was the dame ; and home she was carried, to bear
rule over her home and her husband, as an honest
woman should. Now ye maun ken that though
the flesh-and-blood lovers of Alexander's bonnie
wife all ceased to love and to sue her after she
became another's, there were certain admirers wlio
did not consider their claim at all abated, or their
hopes lessened by the kirk's famous obstacle of
matrimony. Ye have heard how the devout
minister of Tinwald had a fair son carried away,
and wedded against his liking to an unchristened
bride, whom the elves and the fairies provided ; ye
have heard how the bonnie bride of the drunken
Laird of Soukitup was stolen by the fairies out at
the back-window of the bridal chamber, the time
the bridegroom was groping his way to the chamber
134 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
door ; and ye have heard — but why need I multiply
cases 1 Such things in the ancient days were as
common as candle-light. So ye '11 no hinder certain
water elves and sea fairies, who sometimes keep
festival and summer mirth in these old haunted
hulks, from falling in love Avith the weel-faured wife
of Laird Macharg ; and to their plots and contriv-
ances they went how they might accomplish to
sunder man and wife ; and sundering such a man
and such a wife was like sundering the green leaf
from the summer, or the fragrance from the flower.
" So it fell on a time that Laird Macharg took his
halve-net on his back, and his steel spear in his
hand, and down to Blawhooly Bay gaed he, and
into the water he went right between the two
haunted hulks, and placing his net awaited the
coming of the tide. The night, ye maun ken, was
mirk, and the wind lowne, and the singing of the
increasing waters among the shells and the peebles
was heard for sundry miles. All at once light
besan to dance and twinkle on board the two
Haunted Ships from every hole and seam, and
presently the sound as of a hatchet employed in
squaring timber echoed far and wide. But if the
toil of these unearthly workmen amazed the laird,
how much more was his amazement increased when
a sharp shrill voice called out, ' Ho, brother ! what
are you doing nowl' A voice still shriller re-
sponded from the other haunted ship, ' I 'm making
THE HA.UNTED SHIPS. 135
a wife to Sandie Macharg ! ' And a loud quavering
laugh running from ship to ship, and from bank to
bank, told the joy they expected from their labour.
"Now the laird, besides being a devout and a
God-fearing man, was shrewd and bold; and in
plot and contrivance, and skill in conducting his
designs, was fairly an overmatch for any dozen land
elves ; but the water elves are far more subtle ;
besides their haunts and their dwellings being in
the great deep, pursuit and detection is hopeless if
they succeed in carrying their prey to the waves.
But ye shall hear. Home flew the laird, collected
his family around the hearth, spoke of the signs and
the sins of the times, and talked of mortification
and prayer for averting calamity ; and, finally, tak-
ing his father's Bible, brass clasps, black print, and
covered with calf-skin, from the shelf, he proceeded
without let or stint to perform domestic worship. I
should have told ye that he bolted and locked the
door, shut up all inlet to the house, threw salt into
the fire, and proceeded in every way like a man
skilful in guarding against the plots of fairies and
fiends. His wife looked on all this with wonder;
but she saw something in her husband's looks that
hindered her from intruding either question or
advice, and a wise woman was she.
" Near the mid-hour of the night the rush of a
horse's feet was lieard, and the sound of a rider
leaping from its back, and a heavy knock came to
136 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES,
the door, accompanied by a voice, saying, ' The
cummer drink 's hot, and the knave bairn is ex-
pected at Laird Laurie's to-night ; sae mount, good-
wife, and come.'
" ' Preserve me ! ' said the wife of Sandie Mac-
harg, ' that 's news indeed ; who could have thought
it 1 The laird has been heirless for seventeen years !
Now, Sandie, my man, fetch me my skirt and hood.'
" But he laid his arm round his wife's neck, and
said, ' If all the lairds in Galloway go heirless, over
this door threshold shall you not stir to-night ; and
I have said, and I have sworn it ; seek not to know
why or wherefore — but, Lord, send us thy blessed
mornlight.' The wife looked for a moment in her
husband's eyes, and desisted from further entreaty.
" ' But let us send a civil message to the gossips,
Sandy; and hadna ye better say I am sair laid
with a sudden sickness 1 though it 's sinful-like to
send the poor messenger a mile agate with a lie in
his mouth Avithout a glass of brandy,'
" ' To such a messenger, and to those who sent
him, no apology is needed,' said the austere laird ;
'so let him depart.' And the clatter of a horse's
hoofs was heard, and the muttered imprecations of
its rider on the churlish treatment he had ex-
perienced.
" ' Now, Sandie, my lad,' said his wife, laying an
arm particularly white and round about his neck as
she spoke, ' are you not a queer man and a stern 1
THE HAUNTED SHIPS. 137
I have been your wedded wife now these three
years; and, beside my dower, have brought you
three as bonnie bairns as ever smiled aneath a
summer sun. 0 man, you a douce man, and fitter
to be an elder than even Willie Greer himself, I
have the minister's ain' word for 't, to put on these
hard-hearted looks, and gang waving your arms
that way, as if ye said, '• I winna take the counsel
of sic a hempie as you ; " I 'm your ain leal wife,
and will and maun have an explanation.'
"To all this Sandie Macharg replied, 'It is
written, " Wives, obey your husbands " ; but we
have been stayed in our devotion, so let us pray; '
and down he knelt: his wife knelt also, for she was
as devout as bonnie; and beside them knelt their
household, and all lights were extinguished.
" ' Now this beats a',' muttered his wife to her-
self ; ' however, I shall be obedient for a time ; but
if I dinna ken what all this is for before the morn
by sunket-time, my tongue is nae langer a tongue,
nor my hands worth wearing.'
" The voice of her husband in prayer interrupted
this mental soliloquy ; and ardently did he beseech
to be preserved from the wiles of the fiends and the
snares of Satan; from witches, ghosts, goblins,
elves, fairies, spunkies, and water-kelpies ; from the
spectre shallop of Solway ; from spirits visible and
invisible; from the Haunted Ships and their un-
earthly tenants ; from maritime spirits that plotted
138 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
against godly men, and fell in love with their
wives '
" ' Nay, but His presence be near us ! ' said his
wife, in a low tone of dismay. ' God guide my
gudemau's wits : I never heard such a prayer from
human lips before. But, Sandie, my man, Lord's
sake, rise. What fearful light is this 1 Barn and
byre and stable maun be in a blaze ; and Hawkie,
and Hurley, Doddie, and Cherrie, and Damsonplum
will be smoored with reek, and scorched with flame.'
" And a flood of light, but not so gross as a com-
mon fire, which ascended to heaven and filled all
the court before the house, amply justified the good-
wife's suspicions. But to the terrors of fire Sandie
was as immovable as he was to the imaginary
sroans of the barren wife of Laird Laurie ; and he
held his wife, and threatened the weight of his
right hand — and it w^as a heavy one — to all who
ventured abroad, or even unbolted the door. The
neighing and prancing of horses, and the bellowing
of cows, augmented the horrors of the night ; and
to any one who only heard the din, it seemed that
the whole onstead was in a blaze, and horses and
cattle perishing in the flame. All wiles, common or
extraordinary, were put in practice to entice or
force the honest farmer and his Avife to open the
door; and when the like success attended every
new stratagem, silence for a little while ensued, and
a long, loud, and shrilling laugh wound up the
THE HAUNTED SHIPS. 139
dramatic efforts of the night. In the morning,
when Laird Macharg went to the door, he found
standing against one of the pilasters a piece of black
ship oak, rudely fashioned into something like
human form, and which skilful people declared
would have been clothed with seeming flesh and
blood, and palmed upon him by elfin adroitness for
his wife, had he admitted his visitants. A synod
of wise men and women sat upon the woman of
timber, and she was finally ordered to be devoured
by fire, and that in the open air. A fire was soon
made, and into it the elfin sculpture was tossed
from the prongs of two pairs of pitchforks. The
blaze that arose was awful to behold ; and hissings
and burstings and loud cracklings and strange
noises were heard in the midst of the flame; and
when the whole sank into ashes, a drinking-cup of
some precious metal was found ; and this cup,
fashioned no doubt by elfin skill, but rendered
harmless by the purification Avith fire, the sons and
daughters of Sandie Macharg and his wife drink
out of to this very day. Bless all bold men, say I,
and obedient wives ! "
THE BROWNIE.
The Scottish Brownie formed a class of being dis-
tinct in habit and disposition from the freakish and
mischievous elves. He was meagre, shaggy, and
wild in his appearance. Thus Cleland, in his satire
against the Highlanders, compares them to
" Faimes, or Brownies, if ye will,
Or Satyres come from Atlas Hill."
In the day-time he lurked in remote recesses of the
old houses which he delighted to haunt, and in the
night sedulously employed himself in discharging
any laborious task which he thought might be
acceptable to the family to whose service he had
devoted himself. But the Brownie does not drudge
from the hope of recompense. On the contrary, so
delicate is his attachment that the offer of reward,
but particularly of food, infallibly occasions his
disappearance for ever. It is told of a Brownie,
who haunted a border family now extinct, that the
lady having fallen unexpectedly ill, and the servant,
who was ordered to ride to Jedburgh for the sage-
femme, showing no great alertness in setting out,
140
THE BROWNIE. 141
the familiar spirit slipped on the greatcoat of the
lingering domestic, rode to the town on the laird's
best horse, and returned with the midwife en croupe.
During the short space of his absence, the Tweed,
which they must necessarily ford, rose to a dangerous
height. Brownie, who transported his charge with
all the rapidity of the ghostly lover of Lenore, was
not to be stopped by the obstacle. He plunged in
with the terrified old lady, and landed her in safety
where her services were wanted. Having put the
horse into the stable (where it was afterwards found
in a woful plight), he proceeded to the room of the
servant, whose duty he had discharged, and find-
ing him just in the act of drawing on his boots, he
administered to him a most merciless drubbing with
his own horsewhip. Such an important service
excited the gratitude of the laird, who, understand-
ing that Brownie had been heard to express a wish
to have a green coat, ordered a vestment of the
colour to be made, and left in his haunts. Brownie
took away the green coat, but was never seen
more. We may suppose that, tired of his domestic
drudgery, he went in his new livery to join the
fairies.
The last Brownie known in Ettrick Forest resided
in Bodsbeck, a wild and solitary spot, near the head
of Moffat Water, where he exercised his functions
undisturbed, till the scrupulous devotion of an old
lady induced her to " hire him away," as it was
142 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
termed, by placing in his haunt a porringer of milk
and a piece of money. After receiving this hint to
depart, he was heard the whole night to liowl and
cry, " Farewell to bonnie Bodsbeck ! " which he was
compelled to abandon for ever.
MAUNS' STANE.
In the latter end of the autumn of 18 — , I set out
by myself on an excursion over the northern part of
Scotland, and during that time my chief amuse-
ment was to observe the little changes of manners,
language, etc., in the different districts. After
having viewed on my return the principal curiosities
in Buchan, I made a little ale-house, or "public,"
my head-quarters for the night. Having discussed
my supper in solitude, I called up mine host to
enable me to discuss my bottle, and to give me a
statistical account of the country around me. Seated
in the " blue " end, and well supplied with the
homely but satisfying luxuries which the place
afforded, I was in an excellent mood for enjoying
the communicativeness of my landlord; and, after
speaking about the cave of Slaines, the state of the
crops, and the neighbouring franklins, edged him,
by degrees, to speak about the Abbey of Deer, an
interesting ruin which I had examined in the course
of the day, formerly the stronghold of the once
powerful family of Cummin.
H3
144 SCOTCH FOLKLOKE TALES.
" It 's dootless a bonnie place about the abbey,"
said he, " but naething like what it was when the
great Sir James the Rose came to hide i' the Buchan
woods wi' a' the Grahames rampagin' at his tail,
whilk you that 's a beuk-learned man 'ill hae read o',
an' maj^ be ye '11 hae heard o' the saughen bush where
he forgathered wi' his jo ; or aiblins ye may have
seen 't, for it 's standing yet just at the corner o'
gaukit Jamie Jamieson's peat-stack. Ay, ay, the
abbey was a brave place once ; but a' thing, ye ken,
comes till an end." So saying, he nodded to me,
and brought his glass to an end.
" This place, then, must have been famed in days
of yore, my friend 1 "
" Ye may tak my word for that," said he, " 'Od,
it was a place ! Sic a sight o' fechtin' as they had
about it ! But gin ye '11 gan up the trap-stair to the
laft, an' open Jenny's kist, ye '11 see sic a story about
it, printed by ane o' your learned Aberdeen's fouk,
Maister Keith, I think ; she coft it in Aberdeen for
twal' pennies, lang ago, an' battered it to the lid o'
her kist. But gang up the stair canny, for fear that
you should wauken her, puir thing ; or, bide, I '11
just wauken Jamie Fleep, an' gar him help me down
wi 't, for our stair 's no just that canny for them 't 's
no acquaint wi't, let alane a frail man wi' your
infirmity."
I assured him that I would neither disturb the
young lady's slumber nor Jamie Fleep's, and begged
MAUNS' STANE. 145
him to give me as much information as he could
about this castle.
" Weel, wishin' your guid health again. — Our
minister ance said that Solomon's Temple was a' in
ruins, \vi' whin bushes, an' broom and thistles growin'
ower the bonnie carved wark an' the cedar wa's, just
like our ain abbey. Noo, I judge that the Abbey o'
Deer was just the marrow o 't, or the minister wadna
hae said that. But when it was biggit, Lord kens,
for I dinna. It was just as you see it, lang afore
your honour was born, an' aiblins, as the by-word
says, may be sae after ye 're hanged. But that 's
neither here nor there. The Cummins o' Buchan
were a dour and surly race ; and, for a fearfu' time,
nane near han' nor far awa could ding them, an' yet
mony a ane tried it. The fouk on their ain Ian'
likit them weel enough ; but the Crawfords, an' the
Grahames, an' the Mars, an' the Lovats, were aye
trying to comb them against the hair, an' mony a
weary kempin' had they wi' them. But some way
or ither they could never ding them ; an' fouk said
that they gaed and learned the black art frae the
Pope o' Room, wha, I myself heard the minister say,
had aye a colleague wi' the Auld Chiel. I dinna
ken fou it was, in the tail o' the day, the hale country
raise up against them, an' besieged them in the
Abbey o' Deer. Ye '11 see, my frien' " (by this time
mine host considered me as one of his cronies),
"tho' Ave ca' it the abbey, it had naething to do wi'
Scotch. T7-
146 SCOTCH FOLKLOKE TALES.
l^apistiy ; na, na, no sae bad as a' that either, but
just a noble's castle, where they keepit sodgers gaun
about in airn an' scarlet, wi' their swords an' guns,
an' begnets, an' sentry-boxes, like the local militia
in the barracks o' Aberdeen.
" Weel, ye see, they surrounded the castle, an'
lang did they besiege it; but there was a vast o' meat
in the castle, an' the Buchan fouk fought like the
vera deil. They took their horse through a miscel-
laneous passage, half a mile long, aneath the hill o'
Saplinbrae, an' watered them in the burn o' Pulmer.
But a' wadna do ; they took the castle at last, and a
terrible slaughter they made amo' them ; but they
were sair disappointed in ae partic'ler, for Cummin's
fouk sank a' their goud an' siller in a draw-wall, an'
syne filled it up wi' stanes. They got naething in
the way of spulzie to speak o' ; sae out o' spite they
dang doon the castle, an'- it 's never been biggit to
this day. But the Cummins were no sae bad as the
Lairds o' Federat, after a'."
" And who were these Federats 1 " I inquired.
" The Lairds o' Federat 1" said he, moistening his
mouth again as a preamble to his oration. " Troth,
frae their deeds ane would maist think that they
had a drap o' the deil's blude, like the pyets. Gin
a' tales be true, they hae the warmest place at his
bink this vera minute. I dinna ken vera muckle
about them though, but the auldest fouk said they
were just byous wi' cruelty. Mony a good man did
MAUNS STANE. 147
they hing up i' their ha', just for their ain sport;
ye '11 see the ring to the fore yet in the roof o 't.
Did ye never hear o' Mauns' Stane, neebour?"
"Mauns' what?" said I.
" Ou, Mauns' Stane. But it 's no likely. Ye see
it was just a queer clump o' a roun'-abo-ut heathen,
waghlin' may be twa tons or thereby. It wasna like
ony o' the stanes in our countra, an' it was as rouu'
as a fit-ba' ; I 'm sure it wad ding Professor Couplau
himsel' to tell what way it cam' there. Noo, fouk
aye thought there was something uncanny about it,
an' some gaed the length o' saying that the deil used
to bake ginshbread upon 't ; and, as sure as ye 're
sitting there, frien', there was knuckle-marks upon 't,
for my ain father has seen them as aften as I have
taes an' fingers. Aweel, ye see, Mauns Crawford,
the last o' the Lairds o' Federat, an' the deil had
coost out (may be because the laird was just as
wicked an' as clever as he was himsel'), an' ye per-
ceive the evil ane wantit to play him a trick. Noo,
Mauns Crawford was ae day lookin' ower his castle
wa', and he saw a stalwart carle, in black claes, ridin'
up the loanin'. He stopped at this chuckie o' a
stane, an' loutin' himsel', he took it up in his arms,
and lifted it three times to his saddle-bow, an' syne
he rade awa out o' sight, never comin' near the castle,
as Mauns thought he would hae done. ' Noo,' says
the baron till himsel', says he, ' I didna think that
there Avas ony ane in a' the laud that could hae
148 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
played sic a ploy; but deil fetch me if I dinna lift it
as weel as he did ! ' Sae aflf he gaed, for there wasna
sic a man for birr in a' the countra, an' he kent
it as weel, for he never met wi' his match. Weel,
he tried, and tugged, and better than tugged at the
stane, but he coudna mudge it ava ; an' when he
looked about, he saw a man at his ilbuck, a' smeared
wi' smiddy-coom, snightern an' laughin' at him.
The laird d d him, an' bade him lift it, whilk
he did as gin 't had been a little pinnin. The laird
was like to burst wi' rage at being fickled by sic a
hag-ma-hush carle, and he took to the stane in a
fury, and lifted it till his knee ; but the weight o 't
amaist ground his banes to smash. He held the
stane till his een-strings crackit, when he was as
blin' as a moudiwort. He was blin' till the day o'
his death, — that 's to say, if ever he died, for there
were queer sayings about it — vera queer! vera queer!
The stane was ca'd Mauns' Stane ever after ; an' it
was no thought that canny to be near it after gloam-
ing ; for what says the Psalm — hem ! — I mean the
sang —
'Tween Ennetbutts an' Mauns' Stane
Ilka niglit there walks ane !
"There never was a chief of the family after ; the
men were scattered, an' the castle demolished. The
doo and the hoodie-craw nestle i' their towers, and
the hare mak's her form on their grassy hearth- stane."
" Is this stone still to be seen ? "
MAUNS' STANE. 149
" Ou, na. Ye see, it was just upon Johnie
Forbes's craft, an' fouk cam' far an' near to leuk at
it, an' trampit down a' the puir cottar-body's corn ;
sae he houkit a hole just aside it, and tumbled it
intil 't ; by that means naebody sees 't noo, but its
weel kent that it 's there, for they 're livin' yet
wha 've seen it."
" But the well at the Abbey — did no one feel a
desire to enrich himself with the gold and silver
buried there 1 "
*•' Hoot, ay ; mony a ane tried to find out whaur
it was, and, for that matter, I 've may be done as
foolish a thing myself; but nane ever made it out.
There was a scholar, like yoursel', that gaed ae night
down to the Abbey, an', ye see, he summoned up
the deil."
" The deuce he did ! " said I.
" Weel, weel, the deuce, gin ye like it better,"
said he. " An' he was gaun to question him where
the treasure was, but he had eneuch to do to get
him laid without deaving him wi' questions, for a'
the deils cam' about him, like bees biggin' out o' a
byke. He never coured the fright he gat, but cried
out, ' Help ! help ! ' till his very enemy wad hae been
wae to see him ; and sae he cried till he died, which
was no that lang after. Fouk sudna meddle wi'
sic ploys ! "
" Most wonderful ! And do you believe that
Beelzebub actually appeared to him 1 "
150 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
" Believe it ! What for no 1 " said he, conse-
quentially tapping the lid of his snuff-horn. " Didna
my ain father see the evil ane i' the schule o' Auld
Deer 1 "
" Indeed ! "
" Weel, I wot he did that. A wheen idle callants,
when the dominie was out at his twal'-hours, read
the Lord's Prayer backlans, an' raised him, but
couldna lay him again, for he threepit ower them
that he wadna gang awa unless he gat ane o' them
wi' him. Ye may be sure this put them in an awfu'
swither. They were a' squallin' an' crawlin' and
sprawlin' amo' the couples to get out o' his grips.
Ane o' them gat out an' tauld the maister about it,
an' when he cam' down, the melted lead was runnin'
aff the roof o' the house wi' the heat, sae, flingin' to
the black thief a young bit kittlen o' the schule-
mistress's, he sank through the floor wi' an awsome
roar. I mysel' have heard the mistress misca'in
her man about offering up the puir thing, baith saul
and body, to Baal. But troth, I 'm no clear to
speak o' the like o' this at sic a time o' night ; sae
if your honour bena for another jug, I '11 e'en wus
you a gude-night, for it 's wearin' late, an I maun
awa' to Skippyfair i' the mornin'."
I assented to this, and quickly lost in sleep the
remembrance of all these tales of the olden times.
"HORSE AND HATTOCK."
The power of the fairies was not confined to
unchristened children alone ; it was supposed fre-
quently to be extended to full-grown people, espe-
cially such as in an unlucky hour were devoted to
the devil by the execrations of parents and of
masters ; or those who were found asleep under a
rock, or on a green hill, belonging to the fairies, after
sunset, or, finally, to those who unwarily joined
their orgies. A tradition existed, during the seven-
teenth century, concerning an ancestor of the noble
family of Duffers, who, " walking abroad in the fields
near to his own house, was suddenly carried away,
and found the next day at Paris, in the French
king's cellar, with a silver cup in his hand. Being
brought into the king's presence, and questioned by
him who he was, and how he came thither, he told
his name, his country, and the place of his residence,
and that on such a day of the month, which proved
to be the day immediately preceding, being in the
fields, he heard a noise of a whirlwind, and of voices
crying ' Horse and hattock ! ' (this is the word which
151
152 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
the fairies are said to use when they remove from
any place), whereupon he cried ' Horse and hattock ! '
also, and was immediately caught up and transported
through the air by the fairies to that place, where,
after he had drunk heartily, he fell asleep, and
before he woke the rest of the company were gone,
and had left him in the posture wherein he was
found. It is said the king gave him a cup which
was found in his hand, and dismissed him." The
narrator affirms " that the cup was still preserved,
and known by the name of the fairy cup." He adds
that Mr. Steward, tutor to the then Lord Duffers,
had informed him that, " when a boy at the school
of Forres, he and his school-fellows were once upon a
time whipping their tops in the churchyard, before
the door of the church, when, though the day was
calm, they heard a noise of a wind, and at some
distance saw the small dust begin to rise and turn
round, which motion continued advancing till it
came to the place where they were, whereupon they
began to bless themselves ; but one of their number
being, it seems, a little more bold and confident
than his companion, said, * Horse and hattock with
my top !' and immediately they all saw the top lifted
up from the ground, but could not see which way
it was carried, by reason of a cloud of dust which
was raised at the same time. They sought for
the top all about the place where it was taken
up, but in vain ; and it was found afterwards in
HOKSE AND llATTOCK." 153
the churchyard, on the other side of the church."
This legend is contained in a letter from a
learned gentleman in Scotland to Mr. Aubrey,
dated 15th March 1695, published in Auhreys
Miscellani %
SECEET COMMONWEALTH. ,
By Mr. Egbert Kirk, 3Iinister of Aherfoyle, 1691.
The Siths, or Fairies, they call Sluagh Maith, or
the Goodpeople, it would seem, to prevent the dint
of their ill attempts (for the Irish used to bless all
they fear harm of), and are said to be of a middle
nature betwixt man and angel, as were demons
thought to be of old, of intelligent studious spirits,
uid light changeable bodies (like those called
astral), somewhat of the nature of a condensed
cloud, and best seen in twilight. These bodies be
so pliable through the subtlety of the spirits that
agitate them, that they can make them appear or
disappear at pleasure. Some have bodies or vehicles
so spongeous, thin, and defecat [pure] that they are
fed by only sucking into some fine spirituous liquors,
that pierce like pure air and oil ; others feed more
gross on the foyson [abundance] or substance of corn
and liquors, or corn itself that grows on the surface
of the earth, which these fairies steal away, partly
invisible, partly preying on the grain, as do crows
154
SECRET COMMONWEALTH. 155
and mice ; wherefore ift this same age they are
sometimes heard to break bread, strike hammers,
and to do such like services within the little hillocks
they most do haunt ; some whereof of old, before
the Gospel dispelled Paganism, and in some bar-
barous places as yet, enter houses after all are at
rest, and set the kitchens in order, cleansing all the
vessels. Such drags go under the name of Brownies.
When we have plenty, they have scarcity at their
homes ; and, on the contrary (for they are not em-
powered to catch as much prey everywhere as they
please), their robberies, notwithstanding, ofttimes
occasion great ricks of corn not to bleed so well (as
they call it), or prove so copious by very far as was
expected by the owner.
Their bodies of congealed air are sometimes
carried aloft, other whiles grovel in different shapes,
and enter into any cranny or clift of the earth where
air enters, to their ordinary dwellings ; the earth
being full of cavities and cells, and there being no
place, no creature, but is supposed to have other
animals (greater or lesser) living in or upon it as
inhabitants ; and no such thing as a pure wilderness
in the whole universe.
We then (the more terrestrial kind have now so
numerously planted all countries) do labour for that
abstruse people, as well as for ourselves. Albeit,
when several countries were uninhabited by us,
these had their easy tillage above ground, as we
156 SCOTCH FOLIvLORE TALES.
now. The print of those furrows do yet remain to be
seen on the shoulders of very high hills, which was
done when the campaign ground was wood and forest.
They remove to other lodgings at the beginning
of each quarter of the year, so traversing till dooms-
day, being impotent of staying in one place, and
finding some ease by so purning [journeying] and
changing habitations. Their chameleon-like bodies
swim in the air near the earth with bag and bag-
gage ; and at such revolution of time, seers, or men
of the second sight (females being seldom so
qualified) have very terrifying encounters with
them, even on highways ; who, therefore, awfully
shun to travel abroad at these four seasons of the
year, and thereby have made it a custom to this
day among the Scottish-Irish to keep church duly
every first Sunday of the quarter to seun or hallow
themselves, their corn and cattle, from the shots
and stealth of these wandering tribes ; and many of
these superstitious people will not be seen in church
again till the next quarter begins, as if no duty
were to be learnt or done by them, but all the use
of worship and sermons were to save them from
these arrows that fly in the dark.
They are distributed in tribes and orders, and
have children, nurses, marriages, deaths, and burials
in appearance, even as we (unless they so do for a
mock-show, or to prognosticate some such things
among us).
SECRET COMMONWEALTH. 157
They are clearly seen by these men of the second
sight to eat at funerals [and] banquets. Hence
many of the Scottish- Irish will not taste meat at
these meetings, lest they have communion with, or
be poisoned by, them. So are they seen to carry
the bier or coffin with the corpse among the middle-
earth men to the grave. Some men of that exalted
sight (whether by art or nature) have told me they
have seen at these meetings a double man, or the
shape of some man in two places ; that is a super-
terranean and a subterranean inhabitant, perfectly
resembling one another in all points, whom he, not-
withstanding, could easily distinguish one from
another by some secret tokens and operations, and
so go and speak to the man, his neighbour and
familiar, passing by the apparition or resemblance of
him. They avouch that every element and different
state of being has animals resembling those of another
element; as there be fishes sometimes at sea re-
sembling monks of late order in all their hoods and
dresses ; so as the Roman invention of good and bad
demons, and guardian angels particularly assigned
is called by them an ignorant mistake, sprung only
from this original. They call this reflex man a
co-walker, every way like the man, as a twin brothei
and companion, haunting him as his shadow, as h
oft seen and known among men (resembling the
original), both before and after the original is dead ;
and was often seen of old to enter a house, by which
158 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
the people knew that the person of that likeness
was to visit them within a few days. This copy,
echo, or living picture, goes at last to his own herd.
It accompanied that person so long and frequently
for ends best known to itself, whether to guard him
from the secret assaults of some of its own folk, or
only as a sportful ape to counterfeit all his actions.
However, the stories of old witches prove beyond
contradiction that all sorts of people, spirits which
assume light airy bodies, or crazed bodies coacted
by foreign spirits, seem to have some pleasure (at
least to assuage some pain or melancholy) by frisk-
ing and capering like satyrs, or whistling and
screeching (like unlucky birds) in their unhallowed
synagogues and Sabbaths. If invited and earnestly
required, these companions make themselves known
and familiar to men ; otherwise, being in a different
state and element, they neither can nor will easily
converse with them. They avouch that a heluo or
great eater has a voracious elve to be his atteuder,
called a joint-eater or just-halver, feeding on the
pith and quintessence of what the man eats ; and
that, therefore, he continues lean like a hawk or
heron, notwithstanding his devouring appetite ; yet
it would seem they convey that substance elsewhere,
for these subterraneans eat but little in their dwell-
ings, their food being exactly clean, and served up
by pleasant children, like enchanted puppets.
Their houses are called large and fair, and (unless
SECRET COMMONWEALTH. 159
at some odd occasions) unperceivable by vulgar
eyes, like Eachland and other enchanted islands,
having fir lights, continual lamps, and fires, often
seen without fuel to sustain them. Women are yet
alive who tell they were taken away when in child-
bed to nurse fairy children, a lingering voracious
image of them being left in their place (like their
reflection in a mirror), which (as if it were some
insatiable spirit in an assumed body) made first
semblance to devour the meats that it cunningly
carried by, and then left the carcass as if it expired
and departed thence by a natural and common
death. The child and fire, with food and all other
necessaries, are set before the nurse how soon she
enters, but she neither perceives any passage out,
nor sees what those people do in other rooms of the
lodging. When the child is weaned, the nurse dies,
or is conveyed back, or gets it to her choice to stay
there. But if any superterraneans be so subtle as
to practise sleights for procuring the privacy to any
of their mysteries (such as making use of their
ointments, which, as Gyges' ring, make them invis-
ible or nimble, or cast them in a trance, or alter
their shape, or make things appear at a vast
distance, etc.), they smite them without pain, as
with a puff" of wind, and bereave them of both the
natural and acquired sights in the twinkling of an
eye (both these sights, when once they come, being
iu the same organ and inseparable), or they strike
160 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
them dumb. The tramontanes to this day place
bread, the Bible, or a piece of iron, to save their
women at such times from being thus stolen, and
they commonly report that all uncouth, unknown
wights are terrified by nothing earthly so much as
cold iron. They deliver the reason to be that hell
lying betwixt the chill tempests and the firebrands
of scalding metals, and iron of the north (hence
the loadstone causes a tendency to that point),
by an antipathy thereto, these odious, far-scent-
ing creatures shrug and fright at all that comes
thence relating to so abhorred a place, whence
their torment is either begun, or feared to come
hereafter.
Their apparel and speech is like that of the
people and country under which they live ; so are
they seen to wear plaids and variegated garments in
the Highlands of Scotland, and suanachs [plaids]
therefore in Ireland. They speak but little, and
that by way of whistling, clear, not rough. The
very devils conjured in any country do answer in
the language of the place ; yet sometimes the sub-
terraneans speak more distinctly than at other times.
Their women are said to spin very fine, to dye, to
tossue, and embroider ; but whether it be as manual
operation of substantial refined stuff's, with apt and
solid instruments, or only curious cobwebs, un-
palpable rainbows, and a phantastic imitation of the
actions of more terrestrial mortals, since it transcended
SECRET COMMONWEALTIJ. 161
all the senses of the seer to discern whether, 1 leave
to conjecture as I found it.
Their men travel much abroad, either presaging
or aping the dismal and tragical actions of some
amongst us ; and have also many disastrous doings
of their own, as convocations, fighting, gashes,
wounds, and burials, both in the earth and air.
They live much longer than we ; yet die at last, or
[at] least vanish from that state. 'Tis one of their
tenets that nothing perisheth, but (as the sun and
year) everything goes in a circle, lesser or greater,
and is renewed and refreshed in its revolutions ; as
'tis another, that every body in the creation moves
(which is a sort of life) ; and that nothing moves
but has another animal moving on it ; and so on, to
the utmost minutest corpuscle that 's capable of
being a receptacle of life.
They are said to have aristocratical rulers and
laws, but no discernible religion, love, or devotion
towards God, the blessed Maker of all : they dis-
appear whenever they hear His name invoked, or
the name of Jesus (at which all do bow willingly,
or by constraint, that dwell above or beneath
within the earth), (Philip, ii. 10); nor can they act
ought at that time after hearing of that sacred
name. The Taiblsdear or seer, that corresponds
with this kind of familiars, can bring them with a
spell to appear to himself or others when he pleases,
as readily as En dor Witch did those of her own
Scotch. T
162 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
kind. He tells they are ever readiest to go on
hurtful errands, but seldom will be the messengers
of great good to men. He is not terrified with their
sight when he calls them, but seeing them in a sur-
prise (as often as he does) frights him extremely,
and glad would he be quit of such, for the hideous
spectacles seen among them ; as the torturing of
some wight, earnest, ghostly, staring looks, skir-
mishes, and the like. They do not all the harm
which appearingly they have power to do ; nor are
they perceived to be in great pain, save that they
are usually silent and sullen. They are said to have
many pleasant toyish books ; but the operation «f
these pieces only appears in some paroxj'sms of
antic, corybantic jollity, as if ravished and prompted
by a new spirit entering into them at that instant,
liiihter and merrier than their own. Other books
they have of involved, abstruse sense, much like the
Rosurcian [Eosicrucian] style. They have nothing
of the Bible, save collected parcels for charms and
counter-charms; not to defend themselves withal,
but to operate on other animals, for tliey are a
people invulnerable by our weapons, and albeit were-
wolves' and witches' true bodies are (by the union
of the spirit of nature that runs through all echoing
and doubling the blow towards another) wounded
at home, when the astral assumed bodies are
stricken elsewhere — as the strings of a second harp,
tuned to a unison, sound, though only one be
SECEET COMMONWEALTH. 163
struck, — yet these people have not a second, or so
gross a body at all, to be so pierced; but as air
which Avhen divided unites again ; or if they feel
pain by a blow, they are better physicians than we,
and quickly cure. They are not subject to sore
sicknesses, but dwindle and decay at a certain
period, all about an age. Some say their continual
sadness is because of their pendulous state (like
those men, Luke xiii. 2-6), as uncertain what at the
last revolution will become of them, when they are
locked up into an unchangeable condition; and if
they have any frolic fits of mirth, 'tis as the con-
strained grinning of a mort-head [death's-head], or
rather as acted on a stage, and moved by another,
ther [than 1] cordially coming of themselves. But
other men of the second sight, being illiterate, and
unwary in their observations, learn from [differ
from] those ; one averring those subterranean
people to be departed souls, attending a while in
this inferior state, and clothed with bodies procured
through their alms-deeds in this life ; fluid, active,
ethereal vehicles to hold them that they may not
scatter nor wander, and be lost in the totum, or
their first nothing ; but if any were so impious as to
have given no alms, they say, when the souls of
such do depart, they'sleep in an inactive state till
they resume the terrestrial bodies again ; others, that
what the low-country Scotch call a wraith, and the
Irish taibhse, or death's messenger (appearing some-
164 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
times as a little rough dog, and if crossed and con-
jured in time, will be pacified by the death of any
other creature instead of the sick man), is only
exuvious fumes of the man approaching death,
exhaled and congealed into a various likeness (as
ships and armies are sometimes shaped in the air),
and called astral bodies, agitated as wild-fire with
wind, and are neither souls nor counterfeiting
spirits ; yet not a few avouch (as is said) that surely
these are a numerous people by themselves, having
their own politics, which diversities of judgment
may occasion several inconsonancies in this rehearsal,
after the narrowest scrutiny made about it.
Their weapons are most-what solid earthly
bodies, nothing of iron, but much of stone, like to
yellow soft flint spa, shaped like a barbed arrow-
head, but flung like a dart, with great force. These
arms (cut by art and tools, it seems, beyond human)
have somewhat of the nature of thunderbolt subtlety,
and mortally wounding the vital parts without
breaking the skin ; of which wounds I have ob-
served in beasts, and felt them with my hands.
They are not as infallible Benjamites, hitting at a
hair's-breadth ; nor are they wholly unvanquishable,
at least in appearance.
The men of the second sight do not discover
strange things when asked, but at fits and raptures,
as if inspired with some genius at that instant,
which before did work in or about them. Thus I
SECRET COMMONWEALTH. 165
have frequently spoken to one of them, who in his
transport told me he cut the body of one of those
people in two with his iron weapon, and so escaped
this onset, yet he saw nothing left behind of that
appearing divided; at other times he outwrested
[wrestled ?] some of them. His neighbours often
perceived this man to disappear at a certain place,
and about an hour after to become visible, and
discover himself near a bow-shot from the first
place. It was in that place where he became
invisible, said he, that the subterraneans did
encounter and combat with him. Those who are
unseund, or unsanctified (called fey), are said to be
pierced or wounded with those people's weapons,
which makes them do somewhat very unlike their
former practice, causing a sudden alteration, yet the
cause thereof unperceivable at present; nor have
they power (either they cannot make use of their
natural powers, or asked not the heavenly aid)
to escape the blow impendent. A man of the second
sight perceived a person standing by him (sound to
other's view) wholly gored in blood, and he (amazed
like) bid him instantly flee. The whole man
laughed at his airt [notice] and warning, since there
was no appearance of danger. He had scarce con-
tracted his lips from laughter when unexpectedly
his enemies leaped in at his side and stabbed him
with their weapons. They also pierce cows or other
animals, usually said to be Elf-shot, whose purest
166 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
substance (if they die) these subterraneans take to
live on, viz. the aerial and ethereal parts, the most
spirituous matter for prolonging of life, such as
aquavitse (moderately taken) is amongst liquors,
leaving the terrestrial behind. The cure of such
hurts is only for a man to find out the hole with his
finger, as if the spirits flowing from a man's warm
hand were antidote sufiicient against their poisoned
darts.
As birds, as beasts, whose bodies are much used
to the change of the free and open air, foresee
storms, so those invisible people are more sagacious
to understand by the books of nature things to
come, than we, who are pestered with the grossest
dregs of all elementary mixtures, and have our
purer spirits choked by them. The deer scents out a
man and powder (though a late invention) at a great
distance ; a hungry hunter, bread ; and the raven, a
carrion ; their brains, being long clarified by the
high and subtle air, will observe a very small change
in a trice. Thus a man of the second sight, perceiv-
ing the operations of these forecasting invisible
people among us (indulged through a stupendous
providence to give warnings of some remarkable
events, either in the air, earth, or waters), told he
saw a winding shroud creeping on a walking health-
ful person's leg till it came to the knee, and after-
wards it came up to the middle, then to the
shoulders, and at last over the head, which was
SECRET COMMONWEALTH. 167
visible to no other person. And by observing the
spaces of time betwixt the several stages, he easily
guessed how lonsc the man was to live who wore the
shroud ; for when it approached the head, he told
that such a person was ripe for the grave.
There be many places called fairy-hills, which the
mountain people think impious and dangerous to
peel or discover, by taking earth or wood from
them, superstitiously believing the souls of their
predecessors to dwell there. And for that end (say
they) a mole or mound was dedicate beside every
churchyard to receive the souls till their adjacent
bodies arise, and so became as a fairy-hill; they
using bodies of air when called abroad. They also
affirm those creatures that move invisibly in a house,
and cast huge great stones, but do no much hurt,
because counter-wrought by some more courteous
and charitable spirits that are everywhere ready to
defend men (Dan. x. 1 3), to be souls that have not
attained their rest, through a vehement desire of
revealing a murder or notable injury done or
received, or a treasure that was forgot in their life-
time on earth, which, w^hen disclosed to a conjuror
alone, the ghost quite removes.
In the next country to that of my former resi-
dence, about the year 1676, when there was some
scarcity of grain, a marvellous illapse and vision
strongly struck the imagination of two women in
one night, living at a good distance from one
168 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
another, about a treasure hid in a hill called Sith-
bruthach, or fairy-hill. The appearance of a treasure
was first represented to the fancy, and then an
audible voice named the place where it was to their
awaking senses. Whereupon both rose, and naeeting
accidentally at the place, discovered their design ; and
jointly digging, found a vessel as large as a Scottish
peck full of small pieces of good money, of ancient
coin ; and halving betwixt them, they sold in dish-
fuls for dishfuls of meal to the country people.
Very many of undoubted credit saw and had of the
coin to this day. But whether it was a good or bad
angel, one of the subterranean people, or the restless
soul of him who hid it, that discovered it, and to
what end it was done, I leave to the examination of
others.
These subterraneans have controversies, doubts,
disputes, feuds, and siding of parties ; there being
some ignorance in all creatures, and the vastest
created intelligences not compassing all things. As
to vice and sin, whatever their own laws be, sure
according to ours, and equity, natural, civil, and
revealed, they transgress and commit acts of injustice
and sin by what is above said, as to their stealing
of nurses to their children, and that other sort of
plaginism in catching our children away (may seem
to heir some estate in those invisible dominions)
which never return. For swearing and intemper-
ance, thev are not observed so subject to those
SECRET COMMONWEALTH. 169
irregularities, as to envy, spite, hypocrisy, lying,
and dissimulation.
As our religion obliges us not to make a peremp-
tory and curious search into these abstrusenesses, so
the histories of all ages give as many plain examples
of extraordinary occurrences as make a modest
inquiry not contemptible. How much is written of
pigmies, fairies, nymphs, syrens, apparitions, which
though not the tenth part true, yet could not spring
of nothing; even English authors relate [of] Barry
Island, in Glamorganshire, that laying your ear into
a cleft of the rocks, blowing of bellows, striking of
hammers, clashing of armour, filing of iron, will be
heard distinctly ever since Merlin enchanted those
subterranean wights to a solid manual forging of
arms to Aurelius Ambrosius and his Britons, till he
returned ; which Merlin being killed in a battle, and
not coming to loose the knot, these active vulcans
are there tied to a perpetual labour.
THE FAIEY BOY OF LEITH.
'About fifteen years since, having business that
ietained me for some time at Leith, which is near
Edinburgh, in the kingdom of Scotland, I often met
some of my acquaintance at a certain house there,
where we used to drink a glass of wine for our
refection. The woman which kept the house was of
honest reputation among the neighbours, Avhich made
me give the more attention to what she told me one
day about a fairy boy (as they called him) who
lived about that town. She had given me so
strange an account of him, that I desired her I
might see him the first opportunity, which she pro-
mised ; and not long after, passing that way, she
told me there was the fairy boy, but a little before
I came by; and, casting her eye into the street,
said, ' Look you, sir, yonder he is, at play with those
other boys ' ; and pointing him out to me, I went,
and by smooth words, and a piece of money, got
him to come into the house with me ; where, in the
presence of divers people, I demanded of him
several astrological questions, which he answered
170
THE FAIRY BOY OF LEITH. 171
with great subtlety ; and, through all his discourse,
carried it with a cunning much above his years,
which seemed not to exceed ten or eleven.
"He seemed to make a motion like drumming upon
the table with his fingers, upon which I asked him
whether he could beat a drum 1 To which he re-
plied, ' Yes, sir, as well as any man in Scotland ;
for every Thursday night I beat all points to a sort of
people that used to meet under yonder hill ' (point-
ing to the great hill between Edinburgh and Leith).
' How, boy 1 ' quoth I, ' what company have you
there ] ' ' There are, sir,' said he, ' a great company
both of men and women, and they are entertained
with many sorts of music besides my drum ; they
have, besides, plenty of variety of meats and wine,
and many times we are carried into France or
Holland in the night, and return again, and whilst
we are there, we enjoy all the pleasures the country
doth afford.' I demanded of him how they got
under that hill 1 To Avhich he replied that there
was a great pair of gates that opened to them,
though they were invisible to others, and that
within there were brave large rooms, as well ac-
commodated as most in Scotland. I then asked
him how I should know what he said to be true ]
Upon which he told me he would read my fortune,
saying, I should have two wives, and that he saw
the forms of them over my shoulders ; and both
would be very handsome women.
172 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
The woman of the house told me that all the
people in Scotland could not keep him from the
rendezvous on Thursday night ; upon which, by
promising him some more money, I got a promise of
him to meet me at the same place in the afternoon,
the Thursday following, and so dismissed him at
that time. The boy came again at the place and
time appointed, and I had prevailed with some
friends to continue with me (if possible) to prevent
his moving that night. He was placed between us,
and ansAvered many questions, until, about eleven of
the clock, he Avas got away unperceived by the com-
pany ; but I, suddenly missing him, hastened to the
door, and took hold of him, and so returned him
into the same room. We all watched him, and, ot
a sudden, he was again got out of doors ; I followed
him close, and he made a noise in the street, as if
he had been set upon, and from that time I could
never see him."
THE DEAC^.
These are a sort of water-spirits who inveigle
women and children into the recesses which they
inhabit, beneath lakes and rivers, by floating past
them, on the surface of the water, in the shape of
gold rings or cups. The women thus seized are
employed as nurses, and after seven years are per-
mitted to revisit earth. Gervase mentions one
woman in particular who had been allured by
observing a wooden dish, or cup, float by her, while
she was washing clothes in the river. Being seized
as soon as she reached the depths, she was conducted
into one of the subterranean recesses, which she
described as very magnificent, and employed as
nurse to one of the brood of the hag who had
allured her. During her residence in this capacity,
having accidentally touched one of her eyes with an
ointment of serpent's grease, she perceived, at her
return to the world, that she had acquired the
faculty of seeing the Dracce, when they intermingle
themselves with men. Of this power she was, how-
ever, deprived by the touch of her ghostly mistress,
173
174 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
whom she had one day incautiously addressed. It
is a curious fact that this story, in almost all its
parts, is current in both the Highlands and Low-
lands of Scotland, with no other variation than
the substitution of Fairies for Drac^e, and the
cavern of a hill for that of a river. Indeed many
of the vulgar account it extremely dangerous to
touch anything which they may happen to find
without saining (blessing) it, the snares of the
enemy being notorious and well-attested. A poor
woman of Teviotdale having been fortunate enough,
as she thought herself, to find a wooden beetle, at
the very time when she needed such an implement,
seized it without pronouncing a proper blessing, and,
carrying it home, laid it above her bed to be ready
for employment in the morning. At midnight the
window of her cottage opened, and a loud voice was
heai'd calling up some one within by a strange and
uncouth name. The terrified cottager ejaculated a
prayer, which, we may suppose, ensured her personal
safety; while the enchanted implement of house-
wifery, tumbling from the bedstead, departed by the
window with no small noise and precipitation. In
a humorous fugitive tract. Dr. Johnson has been
introduced as disputing the authenticity of an
apparition, merely because the spirit assumed the
shape of a teapot and a shoulder of mutton. No
doubt, a case so much in point as that we have now
quoted would have removed his incredulity.
A SUCCINCT ACCOUNT
OF
MY LOED TAEBAT'S EELATIONS,
IN A LETTER TO THE HONORABLE ROBERT BOYLE,
ESQUIRE, OF THE PREDICTIONS MADE BY
SEERS, WHEREOF HIMSELF WAS EAR-
AND EYE-WITNESS.
Sir, — I heard very much, but believed very little of
the second sight ; yet its being assumed by several
of great veracity, I Avas induced to make inquiry
after it in the year 1652, being then confined in the
north of Scotland by the English usurpers. The
more general accounts of it were that many High-
landers, yet far more Islanders, were qualified with
this second sight ; and men, women, and children,
indistinctly, were subject to it, and children where
parents were not. Sometimes people came to age
who had it not when young, nor could any tell by
what means produced. It is a trouble to most of
them who are subject to it, and they would be rid
of it at any rate if they could. The sight is of no
175
176 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
long duration, only continuing so long as they can
keep their eyes steady without twinkling. The
hardy, therefore, fix their look that they may see
the longer; but the timorous see only glances — their
eyes always twinkle at the first sight of the object.
That which generally is seen by them are the species
of living creatures, and of inanimate things, which
be in motion, such as ships, and habits upon per-
sons. They never see the species of any person
who is already dead. What they foresee fails not
to exist in the mode, and in that place where it
appears to them. They cannot well know what
space of time shall intervene between the apparition
and the real existence. But some of the hardiest
and longest experience have some rules for conjec-
tures ; as, if they see a man with a shrouding sheet
in the apparition, they will conjecture at the near-
ness or remoteness of his death by the more or less
of his body that is covered by it. They will ordi-
narily see their absent friends, though at a great
distance, sometimes no less than from America to
Scotland, sitting, standing, or walking in some cer-
tain place ; and then they conclude with an assur-
ance that they will see them so, and there. If a man
be in love with a woman, they will ordinarily see
the species of that man standing by her, and so like-
wise if a woman be in love. If they see the species
of any person who is sick to die, they see them
covered over with the shrouding sheet.
ACCOUNT OF LORD TARBAT'S RELATIONS. 177
These generals I had verified to me by such of
them as did see, and were esteemed honest and
sober by all the neighbourhood ; for I inquired after
such for my information. And because there were
more of these seers in the isles of Lewis, Harris,
and Uist than in any other place, I did entreat Sir
James il'Donald (who is now dead), Sir Normand
M'Loud, and Mr. Daniel Morison, a very honest
person (who are still alive), to make inquiry in this
uncouth sight, and to acquaint me therewith; Avhich
they did, and all found an agreement in these gene-
rals, and informed me of many instances confirming
what they said. But though men of discretion and
honour, being but at second-hand, I will choose
rather to put myself than my friends on the hazard
of being laughed at for incredible relations.
I was once travelling in the Highlands, and a
good number of servants with me, as is usual there;
and one of them, going a little before me, entering
into a house where I was to stay all night, and going
hastily to the door, he suddenly slipped back with a
screech, and did fall by a stone, which hit his foot.
I asked what the matter was, for he seemed to be
very much frighted. He told me very seriously that
I should not lodge in that house, because shortly a
dead coffin would be carried out of it, for many were
carrying of it when he was heard cry, I, neglecting
his words, and staying there, he said to other of his
servants he was sorry for it, and that surely what
Scotch. -Kit
178 SCOTCH FOLKLOllE TALES.
lie saw Avould shortly come to pass. Though no
sick person was then there, yet the landlord, a
healthy Highlander, died of an apoplectic fit before
I left the house.
In the year 1G53 Alexander Monro (afterwards
Lieutenant-Colonel to the Earl of Dumbarton's
regiment) and I were walking in a place called
Ullapool, in Loch Broom, on a little plain at the
foot of a rugged hill. There was a servant walking
with a spade in the walk before us ; his back was
to us, and his face to the hill. Before we came to
him he let the spade fall, and looked toward the
hill. He took notice of us as we passed near by
him, which made me look at him, and perceiving
him to stare a little strangely I conjectured him to
be a seer. I called at him, at which he started and
smiled. " What are you doing 1 " said I. He
answered, " I have seen a very strange thing : an
army of Englishmen, leading of horses, coming down
that hill ; and a number of them are coming down
to the plain, and eating the barley which is growing
in the field near to the hill." This was on the 4th
May (for I noted the day), and it was four or five
days before the barley was sown in the field he spoke
of. Alexander Monro asked him how he knew they
were Englishmen. He said because they were
leading of horses, and had on hats and boots, Avhich
he knew no Scotchman would have there. We
took little notice of the whole story as other than a
ACCOUNT OF LOKD TAKBAX's EELATIONS. 179
foolish vision, but wished that an English party
were there, we being then at war with them, and
the place almost inaccessible for horsemen. But in
the beginning of August thereafter, the Earl of
Middleton (then Lieutenant for the King in the
Highlands), having occasion to march a party of his
towards the South Highlands, he sent his Foot
through a place called Inverlawell ; and the fore-
party, which was first down the hill, did fall off
eating the barley which was on the little plain under
it. And Monro calling to mind what the seer told
us in May preceding, he wrote of it, and sent an
express to me to Lochslin, in Ross (where I then
was), with it.
I had occasion once to be in company where a
young lady was (excuse my not naming of persons),
and I was told there was a notable seer in the
company. I called him to speak with me, as I did
ordinarily when I found any of them ; and after he
had answered me several questions, I asked if he
knew any person to be in love with that lady.
He said he did, but he knew not the person ; for,
during the two days he had been in her company, he
perceived one standing near her, and his head
leaning on her shoulder, which he said did foretell
that the man should marry her, and die before her,
according to his observation. This was in the year
1655. I desired him to describe the person, which
he did, so that I could conjecture, by the description.
180 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
of such a oue, who was of that lady's acquaintance,
though there were no thoughts of their marriage till
two years thereafter. And having occasion in the
year 1657 to find this seer, who was an islander, in
comiDany with the other person whom I conjectured
to have been described by him, I called him aside,
and asked if that was the person he saw beside the
lady near two years then past. He said it was he
indeed, for he had seen that lady just then standing
by him hand in hand. This was some few months
before their marriage, and that man is now dead, and
the lady alive.
I shall trouble you but with one more, which I
thought most remarkable of any that occurred to
me.
In January 1652, the above-mentioned Lieutenant,
Colonel Alex. Monro, and I, happened to be in the
house of one William M'CIend, of Ferrinlea, in the
county of Ross. He, the landlord, and I, were
sitting in three chairs near the fire, and in the
corner of the great chimney there were two islanders,
who were that very night come to the house, and
were related to the landlord. While the one of
them was talking with Monro, I perceived the other
to look oddly toward me. From this look, and his
being an islander, I conjectured him a seer, and
asked him at what he stared. He answered by
desiring me to rise from that chair, for it was an
unlucky one. I asked him why] He answered,
ACCOUNT OF LORD TAKBAT'S KELATIONS. 181
because there was a dead man in the chair next to
me. "Well," said I, "if it be in the next chair, I may
keep my own. But what is the likeness of the man 1"
He said he was a tall man, with a long grey coat,
booted, and one of his legs hanging over the arm of
the chair, and his head hanging dead to the other
side, and his arm backward, as if it was broken.
There were some English troops then quartered near
that place, and there being at that time a great frost
after a thaw, the country was covered all over with
ice. Four or five of the English riding by this
house some two hours after the vision, while we
were sitting by the fire, we heard a great noise,
which proved to be those troopers, with the help of
other servants, carrying in one of their number, who
had got a very mischievous fall, and had his arm
broke ; and falling frequently in swooning fits, they
brought him into the hall, and set him in the very
chair, and in the very posture that the seer had pro-
phesied. But the man did not die, though he
recovered with great difficulty.
Among the accounts given me by Sir Normand
M'Loud, there was one worthy of special notice,
which was thus: — There was a gentleman in the
Isle of Harris, who was always seen by the seers
with an arrow in his thigh. Such in the Isle who
thought those prognostications infallible, did not
doubt but he would be shot in the thigh before he
died. Sir Normand told me that he heard it the
182 SCOTCH FOLKLOKE TALES.
subject of their discourse for many years. At last
he died without any such accident. Sir Normand
was at his burial at St. Clement's Church iri the
Harris. At the same time the corpse of another
gentleman was brought to be buried in the same
very church. The friends on either side came to
debate Avho should first enter the church, and, in a
trice, from words they came to blows. One of the
number (who was armed with bow and arrows) let
one fly among them. (Now every family in that
Isle have their burial-place in the Church in stone
chests, and the bodies are carried in open biers to
the burial-place.) Sir Normand having appeased the
tumult, one of the arrows Avas found shot in the dead
man's thigh. To this Sir Normand was a witness.
In the account which Mr. Daniel Morison, parson
in the Lewis, gave me, there was one, though it be
heterogeneous from the subject, yet it may be worth
your notice. It was of a young Avoman in this
parish, who was mightily frightened by seeing her
own image still before her, always when she came
to the open air ; the back of the image being always
to her, so that it was not a reflection as in a mirror,
but the species of such a body as her own, and in a
very like habit which appeared to herself continually
before her. The parson kept her a long while with
him, but had no remedy of her evil, which troubled
her exceedingly. I was told afterwards that when
she was four or five years older she saw it not
ACCOUNT OF LORD TARBAT'S RELATIONS. 183
These are matters of fact, which I assure you they
are truly related. But these and all others that
occurred to me, by information or otherwise, could
never lead me into a remote conjecture of the cause
of so extraordinary a phenomenon. Whether it be
a quality in the eyes of some people in these parts,
concurring with a quality in the air also ; whether
such species be everywhere, though not seen by the
want of eyes so qualified, or from whatever other
cause, I must leave to the inquiry of clearer judg-
ments than mine. But a hint may be taken from
this image which appeared still to this woman above
mentioned, and from another mentioned by Aristotle,
in the fourth of his Metaphysics (if I remember right,
for it is long since I read it), as also from the
common opinion that young infants (unsullied with
many objects) do see apparitions which were not
seen by those of elder years ; as likewise from this,
that several did see the second sight v.^hen in the
Highlands or Isles, yet when transported to live
in other countries, especially in America, they quite
lose this quality, as was told me by a gentleman
who knew some of them in Barbadoes, who did see
no vision there, although he knew them to be seers
when they lived in the Isles of Scotland.
Thus far my Lord Tarhat.
THE BOGLE.
This is a freakish spirit who delights rather to
perplex and frighten mankind than either to serve
or seriously hurt them. The Esjjrit FoUet of the
French, Shakespeare's Puck, or Robin Goodfellow,
and Shellycoat, a spirit who resides in the waters,
and has given his name to many a rock and stone
on the Scottish coast, belong to the class of bogles.
One of Shellycoat's pranks is thus narrated : — Two
men in a very dark night, approaching the banks of
the Ettrick, heard a doleful voice from its waves re-
peatedly exclaim, " Lost ! lost ! " They followed
the sound, which seemed to be the voice of a drown-
ing person, and, to their astonishment, found that it
ascended the river ; still they continued to follow the
cry of the malicious sprite, and, arriving before dawn
at the very sources of the river, the voice was now
heard descending the opposite side of the mountain
in which they arise. The fatigued and deluded
travellers now relinquished the pursuit, and had no
sooner done so, than they heard Shellycoat applaud-
ing, in loud bursts of laughter, his successful roguery
184
DAOINE SHIE, OE THE MEN OF PEACE.
They are, though not absohitely malevolent, believed
to be a peevish, repining, and envious race, who
enjoy, in the subterranean recesses, a kind ol
shadowy splendour. The Highlanders are at all
times unwilling to speak of them, but especially on
Friday, when their influence is supposed to be
particularly extensive. As they are supposed to be
invisibly present, they are at all times to be spoken
of with respect. The fairies of Scotland are repre-
sented as a diminutive race of beings, of a mixed
or rather dubious nature, capricious in their disposi-
tions, and mischievous in their resentment. They
inhabit the interior of green hills, chiefly those of a
conical form, in Gaelic termed Sighan, on which
they lead their dances by moonlight, impressing
upon the surface the marks of circles, which some-
times appear yellow and blasted, sometimes of a
deep green hue, and within which it is dangerous
to sleep, or to be found after sunset. The removal
of those large portions of turf, which thunderbolts
sometimes scoop out of the ground with singular
regularity, is also ascribed to their agency. Cattle
185
18G SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
which are suddenly seized with the cramp, or some
similar disorder, are said to be elf-shot, and the
approved cure is to chafe the parts affected with
a blue bonnet, which, it may be readily believed,
often restores the circulation. The triangular flints
frequently found in Scotland, with which the ancient
inhabitants probably barbed their shafts, are sup-
posed to be the weapons of fairy resentment, and
are termed elf arrowheads. The rude brazen battle-
axes of the ancients, commonly called " celts," are also
ascribed to their manufacture. But, like the Gothic
duergar, their skill is not confined to the fabrication
of arms ; for they are heard sedulously hammering
in linns, precipices, and rocky or cavernous situa-
tions, where, like the dwarfs of the mines mentioned
by George Agricola, they busy themselves in imitat-
ing the actions and the various employments of men.
The Brook of Beaumont, for example, which passes
in its course by numerous linns and caverns, is
notorious for being haunted by the fairies ; and the
perforated and rounded stones which are formed by
trituration in its channels are termed by the vulgar
fairy cups and dishes. A beautiful reason is assigned
by Fletcher for the fays frequenting streams and
fountains. He tells us of
"A Tirtuous well, about whose flowery banks
The nimble- footed fairies dance their rouiuls
By the pale moonshine, dipping oftentimes
Their stolen children, so to make them free
From dying flesh and dull mortality."
DAOINE SIIIE, OR THE MEN OF PEACE. 187
It is sometimes accounted unlucky to pass such
places without performing some ceremony to avert
the displeasure of the elves. There is upon the top
of Minchmuir, a mountain in Peeblesshire, a spring
called the Cheese Well, because, anciently, those
who passed that way were wont to throw into it a
piece of cheese as an offering to the fairies, to whom
it was consecrated.
Like the feld elfen of the Saxons, the usual dress
of the fairies is green ; though, on the moors, they
have been sometimes observed in heath-brown, or in
weeds dyed with the stone-raw or lichen. They
often ride in invisible procession, when their presence
is discovered by the shrill ringing of their bridles.
On these occasions they sometimes borrow mortal
steeds, and when such are found at morning, panting
and fatigued in their stalls, with their manes and
tails dishevelled and entangled, the grooms, I pre-
sume, often find this a convenient excuse for their
situation, as the common belief of the elves quaffing
the choicest liquors in the cellars of the rich might
occasionally cloak the delinquencies of an unfaithful
butler.
The fairies, besides their equestrian processions,
are addicted, it would seem, to the pleasures of the
chase. A young sailor, travelling by night from
Douglas, in the Isle of Man, to visit his sister resid-
ing in Kirk Merlugh, heard a noise of horses, the
holloa of a huntsman, and the sound of a horn.
188 SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
Immediately afterwards, thirteen horsemen, dressed
in green, and gallantly mounted, swept past him.
Jack was so much delighted with the sport that he
followed them, and enjoyed the sound of the horn
for some miles, and it was not till he arrived at his
sister's house that he learned the danger which he
had incurred. I must not omit to mention that
these little personages are expert jockeys, and scorn
to ride the little Manx ponies, though apparently
well suited to their size. The exercise, therefore,
falls heavily upon the English and Irish horses
brought into the Isle of Man. Mr. Waldron was
assured by a gentleman of Ballafletcher that he had
lost three or four capital hunters by these nocturnal
excursions. From the same author we learn that
the fairies sometimes take more legitimate modes of
procuring horses. A person of the utmost integrity
informed him that, having occasion to sell a horse,
he was accosted among the mountains by a little
gentleman plainly dressed, who priced his horse,
cheapened him, and, after some chaffering, finally
purchased him. No sooner had the buyer mounted
and paid the price than he sank through the earth,
horse and man, to the astonishment and terror of
the seller, who, experienced, however, no incon-
venience from dealing with" so extraordinary a pur-
chaser.
d I
THE DEATH "BKEE."
There was once a woman, who lived in the Camp-
del-more of Strathavon, whose cattle were seized
with a murrain, or some such fell disease, which
ravaged the neighbourhood at the time, carrying off ^
great numbers of them daily. All the forlorn fires
and hallowed waters failed of their customary
effects; and she was at length told by the mse
people, whom she consulted on the occasion, that it
was evidently the effect of some infernal agency,
the power of which could not be destroyed by any
other means than the never-failing specific — the
juice of a dead head from the churchyard, — a nos-
trum certainly very difficult to be procured, con- |
sidering that the head must needs be abstracted
from the grave at the hour of midnight. Being, /
however, a woman of a stout heart and strong faith,
native feelings of delicacy towards the sanctuary of
the dead had more weight than had fear in re-
straining her for some time from resorting to this
desperate remedy. At length, seeing that her stock
would soon be annihilated by the destructive career
189
lUO SCOTCH FOLKLORE TALES.
, of the disease, the wife of Camp-del-more resolved
to put the experiment in practice, whatever the
result might be. Accordingly, having with con-
siderable difficulty engaged a neighbouring woman
as her companion in this hazardous expedition, they
set out a little before midnight for the parish
churchyard, distant about a mile and a half from her
residence, to execute her determination. On arriv-
ing at the churchyard her companion, whose courage
was not so notable, appalled by the gloomy prospect
before her, refused to enter among the habitations
of the dead. She, however, agreed to remain at
the gate till her friend's business was accomplished.
This circumstance, however, did not stagger the
wife's resolution. She, with the greatest coolness
and intrepidity, proceeded towards what she sup-
posed an old grave, took down her spade, and com-
menced her operations. After a good deal of toil
she arrived at the object, of her labour. Raising the
first head, or rather skull, that came in her way,
she was about to make it her own property, when a
hollow, wild, sepulchral voice exclaimed, "That is
my head*; let it alone ! " Not wishing to dispute
the claimant's title to this head, and supposing she
could be otherwise provided, she very good-
naturedly returned it and took up another. " That
is my father's head," bellowed the same voice.
Wishing, if possible, to avoid disputes, the wife of
Camp-del-more took up another head, when the
same vo'
grandfa^^
nettled
your
done
say? ,
gr-
le
t
I
I
7'V
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11